1. Programming Gels Over a Wide pH Range Using Multicomponent Systems
- Author
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Dave J. Adams, Bart Dietrich, Olga Shebanova, Santanu Panja, and Andrew Smith
- Subjects
multicomponent hydrogels ,Materials science ,ambidextrous phase behavior ,010405 organic chemistry ,Hydrogen bond ,Communication ,cooperative hydrogen bonding ,Single component ,General Medicine ,General Chemistry ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Communications ,Supramolecular Chemistry ,Catalysis ,0104 chemical sciences ,pH responsiveness ,Chemical engineering ,Phase (matter) ,Self-healing hydrogels ,Ph range ,Multicomponent systems ,autonomous programming - Abstract
Multicomponent hydrogels offer a tremendous opportunity for preparing useful and exciting materials that cannot be accessed using a single component. Here, we describe an unusual multi‐component low‐molecular weight gelling system that exhibits pH‐responsive behavior involving cooperative hydrogen bonding between the components, allowing it to maintain a gel phase across a wide pH range. Unlike traditional acid‐triggered gels, our system undergoes a change in the underlying molecular packing and maintains the β‐sheet structure both at acidic and basic pH. We further establish that autonomous programming between these two gel states is possible by an enzymatic reaction which allows us to prepare gels with improved mechanical properties., We show that a multicomponent supramolecular gel with two opposite ionizable pendant groups on different components can exhibit unusual phase behavior involving cooperative hydrogen bonding between the components, allowing it to maintain a gel phase across a wide pH range. Autonomous programming between these two gel states is possible by an enzymatic reaction which allows the preparation of gels with improved mechanical properties.
- Published
- 2021
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