Gels and hydrogels articles within Nature Chemistry

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although hydrogels with complex, heterogeneous and reconfigurable structures are promising materials for use in intelligent systems, fabricating such hydrogels is challenging. Now it has been shown that they can be fabricated by reversibly gluing different hydrogel units using a photocontrolled metallopolymer adhesive. This method can be used to design hydrogels with customized functions.

    • Jiahui Liu
    • , Yun-Shuai Huang
    •  & Si Wu

  • Article |

    Synthetic dissipative systems, formed by out-of-equilibrium self-assembly processes, can mimic some of the properties of biological systems, but often show poor mechanical performance. Now, a shear-induced transient hydrogel has been prepared that is also highly stretchable. The system is based on coordination interactions between Cu(ii) centres and the pendant carboxylate groups of a pseudopolyrotaxane.

    • Hua Ke
    • , Liu-Pan Yang
    •  & Wei Jiang

  • Article |

    Gels formed by metal–ligand coordination typically consist of single metal ions linked together by polymer chains. Now, metal–organic cages have been used as junctions instead. A gel was prepared that features a large number of polymer chains at each junction, including loops that further serve to functionalize the material.

    • Aleksandr V. Zhukhovitskiy
    • , Mingjiang Zhong
    •  & Jeremiah A. Johnson

  • Article |

    Peptides that self-assemble into nanostructures are of interest for many applications, including ones relevant to cosmetics, food, biomedicine and nanotechnology. Now, computational tools have been developed that enable peptide sequence space to be rapidly searched for supramolecular properties and this approach has been used to identify unprotected tripeptide hydrogelators.

    • Pim W. J. M. Frederix
    • , Gary G. Scott
    •  & Tell Tuttle

  • Article |

    Soft materials that can undergo a macroscopic change in response to external stimuli may prove useful for a range of biological applications. Now, it has been shown that hydrogels encapsulating active enzymes can undergo a gel–sol transition in the presence of a range of small-molecule triggers and can potentially be used as sensors or drug-delivery systems.

    • Masato Ikeda
    • , Tatsuya Tanida
    •  & Itaru Hamachi

  • Article |

    In situ catalysis of the formation of gelator molecules provides access to metastable gel states with improved mechanical strength compared with uncatalysed gels that have an identical composition. Acid or aniline catalysis enables the formation of hydrogels with tunable gel-strength in a matter of minutes under ambient conditions from simple building blocks.

    • Job Boekhoven
    • , Jos M. Poolman
    •  & Rienk Eelkema

  • News & Views |

    A reversible covalent reaction in which two oxygen-insensitive radicals combine to form a carbon–carbon bond provides the mechanism by which a polymer gel can self-heal at room temperature without the need for any external stimulus.

    • Marek W. Urban

  • Article |

    Cell-laden synthetic hydrogels — formed via a copper-free click reaction between a poly(ethylene glycol) tetra-cyclooctyne and a peptide-diazide — provide a platform to investigate the cells' response to various stimuli during growth. The hydrogel's biochemical aspects are readily controlled by a thiol-ene photocoupling reaction initiated with visible light, whereas the biomechanical properties of the network are altered via a UV-mediated photodegradation.

    • Cole A. DeForest
    •  & Kristi S. Anseth

  • Article |

    A short, synthetic peptide has been prepared that mimics much of the assembly process of natural collagen. Electrostatic interactions are used to create a sticky-ended structure, which in turn self-assembles through several levels of structural hierarchy from peptide to triple helix to nanofibre and finally to hydrogel.

    • Lesley E. R. O'Leary
    • , Jorge A. Fallas
    •  & Jeffrey D. Hartgerink

  • News & Views |

    Growing good-quality single crystals of proteins for high-resolution X-ray diffraction relies on the use of a diverse range of materials as nucleating agents. Smart hydrogels, in the form of molecularly imprinted polymers, may provide a general solution.

    • Michael J. Whitcombe

  • News & Views |

    The mutual and specific recognition that can be exhibited between 'host' and 'guest' molecules occurs over very small length scales, but this phenomenon has now been demonstrated using macroscopic gels that self-assemble before your eyes.

    • Jonathan W. Steed

  • Article |

    Specific molecular-recognition interactions are often used to build supramolecular architectures on very small length scales — typically those of molecules or macromolecules. Now, it has been shown that a host-guest system based on cyclodextrin rings and hydrocarbon groups can be used to direct the self-assembly of objects from macroscopic gel-based building blocks.

    • Akira Harada
    • , Ryosuke Kobayashi
    •  & Hiroyasu Yamaguchi

  • Article |

    Supramolecular gels based on small-molecule gelators have been shown to be effective media for the growth of organic crystals, including pharmaceutical compounds. Moreover, the gel-to-sol transition can be triggered by molecular recognition with anions, thereby enabling facile recovery of the crystals.

    • Jonathan A. Foster
    • , Marc-Oliver M. Piepenbrock
    •  & Jonathan W. Steed

  • Research Highlights |

    A sugar-derived amphiphilic molecule has been prepared that immobilizes oil into a solid from a mixture with water and enables its subsequent recovery.

    • Anne Pichon

  • Research Highlights |

    An alkylating agent is constantly consumed to fuel the formation of a self-assembled gel that exists far from equilibrium.

    • Stephen Davey

  • News & Views |

    Supramolecular gels, which rely on non-covalent interactions, are typically fragile. Now, hydrogels that possess remarkable mechanical strength combined with the ability to rapidly self-heal have been built through multiple non-covalent interactions.

    • David K. Smith

Browse broader subjects

Browse Gels and hydrogels across other nature.com journals