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research article

Disulfide-Cross-Linked Tetra-PEG Gels

Meng, Zhao  
•
Loeser, Lucas
•
Saalwaechter, Kay
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March 25, 2024
Macromolecules

The preparation of polymer gels via cross-linking of four-arm star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol) (Tetra-PEG) precursors is an attractive strategy to prepare networks with relatively well-defined topologies. Typically, Tetra-PEG gels are obtained by cross-linking heterocomplementary reactive Tetra-PEG precursors. This study, in contrast, explores the cross-linking of self-reactive, thiol-end functional Tetra-PEG macromers to form disulfide-cross-linked gels. The structure of the disulfide-cross-linked Tetra-PEG gels was studied with multiple-quantum NMR (MQ-NMR) spectroscopy and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments. In line with earlier simulation studies, these experiments showed a strong dependence of the relative fractions of the different network connectivities on the concentration of the thiol-end functional Tetra-PEG macromer that was used for the synthesis of the networks. Disulfide-cross-linked Tetra-PEG gels prepared at macromer concentrations below the overlap concentration (c = 0.66c*) primarily feature defect connectivity motifs, such as primary loops and dangling ends. For networks prepared at macromer concentrations above the overlap concentration, the fraction of single-link connectivities was found to be similar to that in amide-cross-linked Tetra-PEG gels obtained by heterocomplementary cross-linking of N-hydroxysuccinimide ester and amine functional Tetra-PEG macromers. Since disulfide bonds are susceptible to reductive cleavage, these disulfide-cross-linked gels are of interest, e.g., as reduction-sensitive hydrogels for a variety of biomedical applications.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acs.macromol.3c02514
Web of Science ID

WOS:001190664900001

Author(s)
Meng, Zhao  
Loeser, Lucas
Saalwaechter, Kay
Gasser, Urs
Klok, Harm-Anton  
Date Issued

2024-03-25

Publisher

Amer Chemical Soc

Published in
Macromolecules
Volume

57

Issue

7

Start page

3058

End page

3065

Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Angle Neutron-Scattering

•

Ionic Liquid

•

Hydrogels

•

Network

•

Reduction

•

Polymers

•

Design

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LP  
FunderGrant Number

China Scholarship Council

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) through the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Bio-Inspired Materials

201806250007

China Scholarship Council (CSC)

Available on Infoscience
April 17, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/207279
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