title: Facile synthesis of degradable and electrically conductive polysaccharide hydrogels.
abstract: Degradable and electrically conductive polysaccharide hydrogels (DECPHs) have been synthesized by functionalizing polysaccharide with conductive aniline oligomers. DECPHs based on chitosan (CS), aniline tetramer (AT), and glutaraldehyde were obtained by a facile one-pot reaction by using the amine group of CS and AT under mild conditions, which avoids the multistep reactions and tedious purification involved in the synthesis of degradable conductive hydrogels in our previous work. Interestingly, these one-pot hydrogels possess good film-forming properties, electrical conductivity, and a pH-sensitive swelling behavior. The chemical structure and morphology before and after swelling of the hydrogels were verified by FT-IR, NMR, and SEM. The conductivity of the hydrogels was tuned by adjusting the content of AT. The swelling ratio of the hydrogels was altered by the content of tetraaniline and cross-linker. The hydrogels underwent slow degradation in a buffer solution. The hydrogels obtained by this facile approach provide new possibilities in biomedical applications, for example, biodegradable conductive hydrogels, films, and scaffolds for cardiovascular tissue engineering and controlled drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Baolin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Finne-Wistrand
authors.forename: Ann-Christine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Albertsson
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010316:Particle Size; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D020100:Hydrogels; D011134:Polysaccharides; C023650:aniline