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Glucose-responsive nanostructured hydrogels with enhanced elastic and swelling properties

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Abstract

Phenylboronic acids (PBAs) have gained considerable interest in recent years due to their recognition for diol-containing molecules such as glucose. Their response to the elevated glucose concentrations can be reported by measuring the change in the size or optical properties of polymers-bearing PBAs. In this context, fast response and good mechanical properties are crucial factors for constructing glucose-responsive sensors. Toward this goal, we have synthesized glucose-responsive nanostructured gels (NSGs) using 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid and N-isopropylacrylamide. Herein, activated nanogels with controllable size were prepared and used as nano-cross-linkers. The prepared NSGs showed glucose-responsiveness in a remarkable concentration-dependent manner, exhibited high elasticity upon compression and slicing and resisted high level of deformation such as bending, twisting and stretching.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21472168 and 21611530689) and the fundamental research funds for the central universities (2017FZA4023) are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People’s Republic of China

    Tarig Elshaarani, Haojie Yu, Li Wang, Raja Summe Ullah, Shah Fahad, Kaleem Ur Rahman, Amin Khan, Ahsan Nazir, Muhammad Usman, Rizwan Ullah Khan, Fazal Haq, Ruixue Liang, Xiang Chen & Muhammad Haroon

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  1. Tarig Elshaarani
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  2. Haojie Yu
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Elshaarani, T., Yu, H., Wang, L. et al. Glucose-responsive nanostructured hydrogels with enhanced elastic and swelling properties. J Mater Sci 54, 10009–10023 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03505-9

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