Wood-Derived Hydrogels as a Platform for Drug-Release Systems

Abstract

Wood (cellulose and lignin)-based hydrogels were successfully produced as platforms for drug-release systems. Viscoelastic and cross-linking behaviors of precursor solutions were tuned to produce highly porous hydrogel architectures via freeze-drying. Pore sizes in the range of 100–160 μm were obtained. Varying lignin molecular structure played a key role in tailoring swelling and mechanical performance of these gels with organosolv-type lignin showing optimum properties due to its propensity for intermolecular cross-linking, achieving a compressive modulus around 11 kPa. Paracetamol was selected as a standard drug for release tests and its release rate was improved with the presence of lignin (50% more compared to pure cellulose hydrogels). This was attributed to a reduction in molecular interactions between paracetamol and cellulose. These results highlight the potential for the valorization of lignin as a platform for drug-release systems.

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“…This is because the relatively denser and more rigid hydrogel structure prepared by the freezing method, as shown in SEM images (Figure 1 (d,e and f)), has limited penetration or absorbance of water into its network. Meanwhile, large pores observed in the hydrogel by the heating gelation method provided flexibility for the cellulose molecules to expand and allowed more penetration of water molecules [27,29,31]. At elevated temperatures, the heat provided kinetic energy to increase the mobility of cellulose polymer chains and caused the chains to entangle into a disordered structure randomly.…”

Bone tumors effective therapy through functionalized hydrogels: current developments and future expectations

“…Thus, hydrogels have established themselves as fascinating materials due to their remarkable biological activities and features. Numerous materials, including natural, synthetic, and hybrid polymers, have all been extensively used as the primary component of hydrogel for bone tumor therapy and tissue engineering (Culebras et al., 2021 ; Ma et al., 2021 ; Xu et al., 2021 ). Collagen, chitosan, hyaluronic acid (HA), gelatin, and sodium alginate are natural hydrogels that exhibit a high degree of biocompatibility, making them appealing biomedical materials for bone repair.…”

Hierarchically porous 2D carbon from bio-waste: a sustainable, rapid, and efficient oxidase mimic for the colorimetric detection of ascorbic acid

“…[38][39][40] Since porous 2D carbon bears a vast surface area and unique electronic structures; therefore, it can play an exciting role for the artificial enzyme. Presently, bio-waste derived 2D carbon nanomaterials are acquiring much more attention in various recommended technological projects 41,42 , e.g., supercapacitor [43][44][45] , batteries 46 , and adsorbents 47 , etc. Despite this, some work has been published on the carbon-based substrate for mimetic purposes, but still, there is a need for more explorations.…”