title: Dramatically Promoted Swelling of a Hydrogel by Pillar[6]arene-Ferrocene Complexation with Multistimuli Responsiveness.
abstract: The swelling-shrinking transition of hydrogels is crucial for their wide applications such as actuators and drug delivery. We hereby fabricated a smart hydrogel with ferrocene groups on pendant of polymer networks. While it was immersed in the water-soluble pillar[6]arene (WP6) aqueous solution, the hydrogel was dramatically swollen, which was an approximately 11-fold promotion in weight compared with that in pure water, due to the formation of the inclusion complexes between WP6 and ferrocene groups in the hydrogel. In particular, the well-swollen hydrogel exhibited good responsiveness to multistimuli including temperature, pH, redox, and competitive guests by tuning the dissociation/formation of WP6-ferrocene inclusion complexes or the strength of their charges. Meanwhile, potential application of such a smart hydrogel in pH-responsive drug release was demonstrated as well.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Mengfei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Chenhao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210023, China.
authors.forename: Leyong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D004318:Doxycycline / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004337:Drug Carriers; D005296:Ferrous Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D000075163:Metallocenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D005296:Ferrous Compounds; D020100:Hydrogels; D000075163:Metallocenes; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; C581440:pillar(6)arene; D004318:Doxycycline; C004998:ferrocene