Poly(vinyl alcohol) Modified via the Hantzsch Reaction for Biosafe Antioxidant Self-Healing Hydrogel

• Published in: ACS macro letters 2023-08, Vol.12 (8), p.1037-1044
• Main Authors: Pan, Siyu, Zhang, Nan, He, Xianzhe, Fang, Zhao, Wu, Yuwei, Wei, Yen, Tao, Lei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2161-1653; 2161-1653
• DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.3c00298

Efficient routes for the preparation of functional self-healing hydrogels from functional polymers are needed. In this study, we developed a strategy to effectively produce a vanillin-modified poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA-vanillin) through the Hantzsch reaction. This polymer was cross-linked with a phenylboronic acid-containing polymer (PB) that was also prepared using the Hantzsch reaction to fabricate a hydrogel through borate ester linkages under mild conditions (25 °C, pH ∼ 7.4). This hydrogel had excellent antioxidant abilities due to the 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP) rings and the vanillin moieties in the hydrogel structures; it was also self-healable and injectable owing to the dynamic borate ester linkages. Furthermore, the antioxidant self-healing hydrogel had low cytotoxicity and exhibited favorable safety in animal experiments, indicating its potential as a safe implantable cell or drug carrier. This study developed a method for preparing functional polymers and related self-healing hydrogels in a facile manner; it demonstrated the value of the Hantzsch reaction in exploiting antioxidant self-healing hydrogels for biomedical applications, which may provide insight into the design of other functional self-healing hydrogels through different multicomponent reactions.