Heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels

Abstract

Supramolecular hydrogels, formed via intermolecular interactions in water, are emerging as a new type of versatile soft materials to be applied in many areas, such as biomedical applications, catalysis, food additives, and cosmetics. While most of the supramolecular hydrogels are homotypic (i.e., one type of building blocks), heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels are less explored, but may offer unique advantages. This review discribes supramolecular hydrogels that consist of more than one type building blocks (i.e., heterotypic) to illustrate the promises and challenges of heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels as soft biomaterials. First, we discuss the driving force for producing heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels. Second, we introduce the general methods for triggering heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels. Third, we summarize the examples of heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels made of hydrogelators with or without containing amino acid residues. Fourth, we describe the applications of heterotypic supramolecular hydrogels up-to-date. Finally, we give the outlook and propose a few future directions that likely worth to be explored.

High‐Performance Organic Heterojunction Phototransistors Based on Highly Ordered Copper Phthalocyanine/para‐Sexiphenyl Thin Films

“…Figure 5a shows the photoresponse of CuPc/p-6P heterojunction phototransistors, which can be switched on by light irradiation (365 nm, 10 mW cm −2 ) and off by resetting electrical pulses. [10,32,33] A pronounced change in the drain current was observed under the light. The switch-on current increased gradually with the light irradiating.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In recent years, organic optoelectronic application has been one of the active research areas because of the fascinating photodetection or photoconducting characteristics in a wide wavelength region. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Organic photodetectors convert incident optical signals to electrical signals and have broad application in health care, environmental monitoring, secure communication, and radiation detection. In particular, organic photodetectors based on organic field-effect transistors, called organic phototransistors, generally exhibit higher sensitivity and lower noise than that of photodiodes and photoconductors, respectively.…”

Engineering Biocompatible Scaffolds through the Design of Elastin‐Based Short Peptides

“…Supramolecular hydrogels have emerged as ap romising candidate for mimicking the structure of the native ECM. [13][14][15][16] These materials rely on noncovalent interactions between low-molecular-weight gelators (LWMGs) such as hydrogen bondinga nd hydrophobic interactions to self-assemble small molecules into anisotropic structures. Supramolecular gelators can offer advantagesi nt erms of reversibility and responsiveness towards externalstimuli such as heat, salt concentration, and pH.…”

“…The complexity of the naturally occurring extracellular matrix is yet to be recapitulated in synthetic systems; however, hydrogels offer a convenient, synthetically achievable alternative which mimics the fibrous, cross‐linked nature of the ECM. Supramolecular hydrogels have emerged as a promising candidate for mimicking the structure of the native ECM . These materials rely on noncovalent interactions between low‐molecular‐weight gelators (LWMGs) such as hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions to self‐assemble small molecules into anisotropic structures.…”

Enzymatic self-assembly of an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM)

“…Supramolecular hydrogels made of peptides have attracted considerable research interests, particularly, in the biomedical field due to their versatility and applications, such as a scaffold mimicking the native microenvironment necessary for cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions, 1–3 the medium for controlled drug release, 4–6 the promoters for nerve regeneration, 7 the adjuvants for immune stimulation, 8, 9 the motif for developing novel anticancer agents, 10 and the model system for understanding the origin of life. 11 These developments indicate that it is beneficial and necessary for exploring the self-assembly of functional peptides for biomedical applications.…”