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Curcumin is a traditional herbal medicine with immense therapeutic potential; however, its application is severely limited owing to its poor water solubility. In this study, a multi-responsive self-healing hydrogel for...

The Hantzcsh reaction is a robust four‐component reaction for the efficient generation of 1,4‐dihydropyridine (1,4‐DHP) derivatives. Recently, this reaction has been introduced into polymer chemistry in order to develop polymers having 1,4‐DHP structures in the main and/or side chains. The 1,4‐DHP groups confer new properties/functions to the polymers. This mini‐review summarizes the recent studies on the development of new functional polymers by using the Hantzsch reaction. Several synthetic approaches, including polycondensation, post‐polymerization modification (PPM), monomer to polymer strategy, and one‐pot strategy are introduced; different applications (protein conjugation, formaldehyde detection, drug carrier, and anti‐bacterial adhesion) of the resulting polymers are emphasized. Meanwhile, the future development of the Hantzsch reaction in exploring new functional polymers is also discussed.

A phenylboronic acid (PBA)-containing copolymer was synthesized via the Hantzsch reaction and radical polymerization. Curcumin was dynamically included in this PBA-containing polymer to selectively kill cancer cells.

Small-molecule antioxidants perform poorly in vivo in combating oxidative stress because of their low bioavailability. Water-soluble polymeric antioxidants can overcome the limitations of small molecular antioxidants (instability, poor water solubility, fast metabolism, etc.), but there are only a few efficient synthesis methods to prepare safe and effective polymeric antioxidants. In this study, we develop a series of antioxidant polymers containing ferrocene and/or indole moieties through the Ugi four-component reaction and simple free radical polymerization. These polymers are screened using different criteria to find a biocompatible antioxidative polymer that effectively inhibits the lethal and teratogenic effects of UV-induced oxidative damage on zebrafish embryos. This study identifies a strategy to use antioxidative polymers in vivo, demonstrates the value of multicomponent reactions in interdisciplinary areas, and provides the underlying insights to guide the design of antioxidant polymeric biomaterials.