Synthetic responsive polymers

Anderson JM. Perspectives on the in vivo responses of biodegradable polymers. In Hollinger JO, ed. Biomedical Applications of Synthetic Biodegradable Polymers. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 1995 223-233. 

Several classes of stimuli-responsive polymers have been reported. Polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids represent one group of stimuli-responsive biopolymers which can be found widely in living systems [9-11]. Indeed, these materials belong to the oldest class of substances in Nature with stimuli-responsive properties. However, for many years, synthetic polymers with stimuli-responsive properties have attracted a similar level of attention within the scientific community [12]. Table 1 lists some examples of stimuli-responsive polymers, and the stimuli that can be used elicit a response [13]. 

R178 D. Kuckling and M. W. Urban, Synthetic and Physicochemical Aspects of Advanced Stimuli-Responsive Polymers , in Handbook of Stimuli-Responsive Materials, ed. M. W. Urban, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim, Germany, 2011, p. 1. 

M.W.King,Y.Marois,G.R.Marinov,J.P.Delagoutte and R.Guidoin, Monitoring the inflammatory response and rate of resorption of partially resorbable bicomponent fibers. Proceedings of ASTM Symposium on Synthetic Bioabsorbable Polymers for Implants, Kansas City, MO, USA, 16-17 Nov. 1999, p. 8. 

Reception of chemical and biochemical signals can be based on a physical interaction or chemical reaction between functional groups in the polymer and signaling molecules (Motomov et al. 2010). There are many examples of specific complex formation between synthetic polymer materials and ligands, e.g., glucose-responsive polymers with phenylboronic side groups (Lapeyre et al. 2008). 

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