Hydrogels synthetic polymers

WangC, Stewart RJ, Kopecek J (1999) Hybrid hydrogels assembled from synthetic polymers and coiled-coil protein domains. Nature 397 417-420... 

WR Gombotz, AS Hoffman. Immobilization of biomolecules and cells on and within synthetic polymer hydrogels. In NA Peppas, ed. Hydrogels in Medicine and Pharmacy, Vol I. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 1986, pp 95-126. 

Hybrid hydrogels are usually referred to as hydrogel systems whose components are at least two distinct classes of molecules, for example, synthetic polymers and biological macromolecules, interconnected either covalently or noncovalently. They have been of particular interest because... 

Figure 3 Schematic illustration of a hybrid hydrogel system—genetically engineered coiled-coil protein domains used to crosslink synthetic water-soluble polymers. Divalent transition metal ions are shown to form complexes with nitrogen-oxygen-donor ligands on the synthetic polymer side chains and the terminal histidine residues in the coiled coils.

A direct implication of this hypothesis is that phase transition of the mucus gel should be reversible, and it should exhibit the characteristic features of a critical phenomenon. Studies conducted in isolated giant mucin secretory granules of the terrestrial slug revealed that hydrated mucin gels, released from individual secretory granules, can indeed be recondensed. Recondensation/ decondensation is reversible and exhibits the typical features of a polymer gel phase transition. Namely, it is discontinuous, and is affected by pH, temperature and Ca2 + concentration in a fashion that mimics phase transition in synthetic polymer hydrogels [32, 33] (see Fig. 3). 

Kulicke, W.-M., and Nottelmann, H. (1989). Structure and swelling of some synthetic, semisynthetic, and biopolymer hydrogels. In Polymers in Aqueous Media, Glass, J. E. (Ed.), Advances in Chemistry 223, pp. 15-44. Am. Chem. Soc., Washington, DC. 

T Tydrogels are a class of synthetic polymers of diverse chemical nature distinguished from other polymers by the capacity to imbibe relatively large amounts of water in their structure. The water content of these materials varies from about 30 to 90 wt % depending on both the chemical nature and physical structure of the polymer. Many natural or biocompatible polymers are also highly hydrated, e.g. 30-50 wt % water is bound by globular proteins (I). Partly for this reason, hydrogels... 

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