“…In addition, versatile variations in the precursor, depending on the type of polymer, the linkage between the polymer and phenol, and the structure of the phenolic moiety, offer an opportunity to conveniently alter the function of the resultant hydrogel, including its biological and mechanical properties. Consequently, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) has been widely applied for hydrogelation by exploiting various precursors such as phenol-conjugated hyaluronic acid and catechol-functionalized cellulose. , However, the HRP-catalyzed method has the shortcoming of suicide inactivation of HRP by excess H 2 O 2 . , As the amount of H 2 O 2 is crucial for the regulation of the mechanical strength of the resultant hydrogel, several attempts have been made to solve this problem, e.g., dropwise addition of H 2 O 2 and indirect addition of H 2 O 2 via a glucose oxidase-coupled reaction. , Recently, hematin, which is a small-molecule-based artificial peroxidase, was reported as an alternative to HRP; however, it has some limitations such as deficient activity requiring longer reaction times and high concentration of H 2 O 2 , and inherent instability of hematin in aqueous conditions. − Herein, we verified the potential of photocaged Mn 2 (bpmp) as a substitute for HRP in the peroxidase-mediated hydrogelation with high stability and catalytic efficiency and enabled the noninvasive regulation of hydrogelation by light irradiation. We believe that this would be a more practical method that also has the advantages of peroxidase-mediated gelation and the ability to control the kinetics, timing, and location of gelation by altering light-related variables, resulting in versatile variations in the shape and mechanical properties of the resultant hydrogel.…”