Click Crosslinked Chitosan/Gold Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Preparation of novel nanocomposite hydrogels opens up new avenues to next generation of biocompatible materials to be used in bioengineering and drug delivery. Toward this goal, chitosan nanocomposite hydrogels using click chemistry inspired cross-linking are prepared. To enable this, Diels–Alder reaction of furan-containing chitosan and maleimide-coated gold nanoparticles is employed. The viscoelastic properties of the obtained nanocomposites as well as the effect of the nanoparticles as cross-linkers are studied, indicating that they play significant role in hydrogel formation and stability. Nanoparticle-enriched hydrogels are also found to demonstrate pH-sensitivity therefore showing their potential for future biosensing applications. (Figure presented.).
The authors thank the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MEC) (MAT 2015-53437-C2-1P), the Basque Country Government in the frame of Grupos Consolidados (IT-776-13), and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) for financial support. R. Hernández thanks MEC for a Ramón y Cajal contract. Moreover, technical and human support provided by SGIker (UPV/EHU, MINECO, GV/EJ, ERDF, and ESF) is also gratefully acknowledged