Mechanical Reinforcement of Supramolecular Hydrogel through Incorporation of Multiple Noncovalent Interactions
作者:Harunobu Komatsu、Masato Ikeda、Itaru Hamachi
DOI:10.1246/cl.2011.198
日期:2011.2.5
Supramolecular hydrogel, comprising a three-dimensional network of self-assembled nanofibers, has recently emerged as a unique material for a variety of potential applications such as tissue engineering. One serious drawback of supramolecular hydrogels that sometimes limits their practical usage is their mechanical weakness compared with conventional polymer gels. Here we describe a stiff supramolecular hydrogel made of a zwitterionic amino acid-tethered amphiphilic molecule that self-assembles into nanofibers through multiple and orthogonal noncovalent interactions.
rational accumulation of multiple and orthogonal noncovalent interactions in the supramolecular nanofibers of 1 played crucial roles not only in the mechanical reinforcement but also in the multistimuliresponsiveness. That is, the zwitterionic amino acid moiety and the CC double bond unit of the hydrogelator 1 can function as a pH‐responsive unit and a light‐responsive unit, respectively. We also demonstrated