Synthesis and microcontact molding of functionalizable hydrogels

Abstract

Hydrogels are crosslinked polymers that have large number of hydrophilic groups and capacity to hold water in their three dimensional network structure. These materials have a wide range of application in biomedical and materials science due to their controllable chemical and physical properties. Dendron-polymer-dendron conjugate systems are novel polymeric materials to fabricate hydrogels. Multivalent dendron-polymer-dendron copolymers can be used to synthesize hydrogels that can be further functionalized with molecules and biomolecules of interest. In this project, synthesis of functionalizable hydrogels, characterizations, and post functionalization of hydrogels from dendron-polymer-dendron conjugates are reported. The resulting hydrogels are biodegradable and multivalent due to utilization of polyester dendrons, possess high swelling capacity due to presence of high molecular weight poly ethylene glycol. Since the hydrogel precursors have alkene and alkyne groups on their surfaces, crosslinking via photopolymerization and post functionalization by click chemistry is possible. Additionally, by micromolding methods, different surface patterns of functionalizable hydrogels can be realized. Successful covalent modification of these hydrogels via control of degree of functionalization was demonstrated by immobilization of fluorescent dyes and enzymes.