Constructing chemically fueled hydrogels of polymers

Informations projet

FuelHydrogel

N° de convention de subvention: 101031072

DOI

10.3030/101031072

Projet clôturé le 28 Février 2023

Date de signature de la CE 16 Mars 2021

Date de début 1 Novembre 2021

Date de fin 30 Juillet 2024

Financé au titre de

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Coût total

€ 219 312,00

Contribution de l’UE

€ 219 312,00

Coordonné par

AALBORG UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FuelHydrogel (Constructing chemically fueled hydrogels of polymers)

Période du rapport: 2021-11-01 au 2023-10-31

Résumé du contexte et des objectifs généraux du projet

Most synthetic materials are close to or reside in equilibrium, however, life, the most ‘intelligent materials’ on earth, always stays away from equilibrium. This non-equilibrium state is usually sustained by high-energy molecules (chemical fuels) harvested from metabolic reaction cycles. This has inspired the construction of chemically fuelled dissipative molecular assemblies. Currently, these chemically fueled systems mainly focus on small molecules. Compared to small molecules, polymers show advantages in constructing 3D-bulk materials, as well as, integrating and amplifying molecular-scale changes to visible macroscopic changes. We thus propose to extend the construction of dissipative assemblies from small molecules to polymers. The overall goal of the ´FuelHydrogel´ project is to construct chemically fuelled dissipative materials of polymers (polysaccharides) which are regenerative and accessible to spatiotemporal control. This new generation of materials could be used to address our challenges in materials chemistry and biomedicine. Moreover, this action will extend the research domain of systems chemistry from small molecules to polymers.

Travail effectué depuis le début du projet jusqu’à la fin de la période considérée dans le rapport et principaux résultats atteints jusqu’à présent

During the implementation of the project, we have achieved important progress in research and dissemination.
The development of suitable activation/deactivation reaction cycles for polysaccharides is the crucial core part of the project. The activation reaction should be a reaction lead to the chemical modification of the polysaccharides for the generation of hydrogels or nanogels and the deactivation should be the simultaneous hydrolysis of the modified polysaccharide back to the original polymer. We thus designed and investigated a set of activation/deactivation reactions in small molecules as the model systems and which allow us to test a wide range of chemical reactions and coupling reagents to identify the reactions and products. We also tested two of activation/deactivation reactions on polysaccharides directly. We found that one of the reactions and the hydrolysis of the resulting product can progress under the same condition, indicating these reactions can be used to construct the reaction cycles for making the chemically fueled polysaccharide-based hydrogels although the suitable reaction conditions still need further screening.
To strengthen the dissemination of our research and systems chemistry, I have carried out some dissemination and outreach activities with my supervisor.

Progrès au-delà de l’état des connaissances et impact potentiel prévu (y compris l’impact socio-économique et les conséquences sociétales plus larges du projet jusqu’à présent)

I discovered several new reactions which show high potential to be used to build chemically fueled polysaccharide-based materials. These new reactions are efficient and can also be used for all kinds of chemical modification and functionalization of polysaccharides and other polymers. With the support of MSCA fellowship, we have taken important steps to extend the research domain of systems chemistry from small molecules to polymers.

Constructing chemically fueled hydrogels of polymers