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Small-molecule supramolecular hydrogelators for hydrogel engineering
The study of small-molecule supramolecular hydrogelators (SMSHs) is of great interest, both fundamental and applicative. Their self-assembly most often leads to the formation of fibrillar structure and can be used as a model for the fibrillation of biologically-relevant entities, also their ability to form gels with tunable mechanical properties suggest many promising materials-related applications. In this context, aminoacid-based SMSHs (AA-SMSHs) have a special relevance because of opportunities offered e.g. in terms of biocompatibility and biomimetics, as well as in terms of variety of molecular design possibilities. Usually, the sol-gel behavior of AA-SMSHs is pH-dependent thanks to the presence of one or more pH-responsive groups, especially carboxylic acid –COOH ones. For these reasons, pH-responsive SMSHs (aminoacid-based and non) have been and still are the subject of intense investigation. Nevertheless, their behavior is far from being completely understood.
The use of kinetically-controlled systems to program autonomous pH changes in time, such as those based on the hydrolysis of slow acid generators (e.g. delta-gluconolactone GL), for triggering the sol-gel transition of AA-SMSHs has several advantages compared to the direct addition of acids or bases: it allows to ensure a higher degree of homogeneity, resulting in better gels, and to study in situ the gelation mechanism e.g. by rheology. In the present work, we want to gain further insight on the gelation mechanism and the resulting gel properties of representative AA-SMSHs.
For our investigation, we selected amino acids which can be turned into SMSHs by protecting their amino groups with carbobenzyloxy (Cbz) and fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) moieties. This choice was made to allow deconvolving the relative contribution of the amino acid group and of the protecting group on the self-assembly behavior of the AA-SMSHs.
The use of kinetically-controlled systems to program autonomous pH changes in time, such as those based on the hydrolysis of slow acid generators (e.g. delta-gluconolactone GL), for triggering the sol-gel transition of AA-SMSHs has several advantages compared to the direct addition of acids or bases: it allows to ensure a higher degree of homogeneity, resulting in better gels, and to study in situ the gelation mechanism e.g. by rheology. In the present work, we want to gain further insight on the gelation mechanism and the resulting gel properties of representative AA-SMSHs.
For our investigation, we selected amino acids which can be turned into SMSHs by protecting their amino groups with carbobenzyloxy (Cbz) and fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) moieties. This choice was made to allow deconvolving the relative contribution of the amino acid group and of the protecting group on the self-assembly behavior of the AA-SMSHs.
The aim of this project is to perform a systematic study on how we can form and degrade amino acid-based hydrogels.
Tasks of the project:
- Design and perform spectroscopic assays to monitor pH evolution upon gelation.
- Evaluate gelation and final hydrogel properties via shear rheology.
- Evaluate the formed fibrillar networks using optical microscopy, SAXS, and SEM.
The aim of this project is to perform a systematic study on how we can form and degrade amino acid-based hydrogels.
Tasks of the project:
- Design and perform spectroscopic assays to monitor pH evolution upon gelation.
- Evaluate gelation and final hydrogel properties via shear rheology.
- Evaluate the formed fibrillar networks using optical microscopy, SAXS, and SEM.
Dalia Dranseike: ddranseik@ethz.ch
Dr. Guido Panzarasa: guido.panzarasa@ifb.baug.ethz.ch
This project is a collaboration between Active and Adaptive Wood Materials group (D-BAUG) and Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory (D-MAVT) at ETH Zurich.
Dalia Dranseike: ddranseik@ethz.ch
Dr. Guido Panzarasa: guido.panzarasa@ifb.baug.ethz.ch
This project is a collaboration between Active and Adaptive Wood Materials group (D-BAUG) and Macromolecular Engineering Laboratory (D-MAVT) at ETH Zurich.