Supramolecular Glycolipid-Based Hydro-/Organogels with Enzymatic Bioactive Release Ability by Tuning the Chain Length and Headgroup Size.
Snehal Ashokrao HoleyKanaparedu P C SekharDeepak Kumar SwainSreedhar BojjaRati Ranjan NayakPublished in: ACS biomaterials science & engineering (2022)
Designing of supramolecular hydro-/organogels having desired properties, biocompatibility, and stimuli responsiveness is a challenging task. Herein, the gelation ability of amphiphilic glycolipid-based gelators in a wide range of solvents is explored. The structure-function relationship was established by varying the chain length and polar headgroup size of amphiphilic gelators. The prepared hydro-/organogels were characterized by employing several techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheology, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), etc. The thermal stability of hydro-/organogels increased with an increase in chain length. Rheological analysis depicted that variation in chain length and headgroup size of amphiphilic gelators significantly affected the gel strength and stability. The self-assembled morphology of hydro-/organogel samples revealed the compact entangled fibrillar network structures. After comparing the energy-minimized molecular length with the d -spacing value obtained by XRD, interdigitated bilayer packing in the gel network was established. The bioactive encapsulation and enzymatic release study of hydro-/organogels portrayed their potential application in the biomedical field. To our delight, glycolipid 16M (C16 chain length) formed a molecular hydrogel with injectable and thixotropic behaviors. High critical strain value, thixotropy, injectability, thermoreversibility, and faster bioactive release for the 16M-W hydrogel proved crucial to predict its future applications. Overall, glycolipid amphiphiles designed by upholding proper hydrophilic-lipophilic balance can form multifunctional supramolecular hydrogels with excellent implementation in the drug delivery system.
Keyphrases
- electron microscopy
- high resolution
- hyaluronic acid
- drug delivery
- tissue engineering
- wound healing
- primary care
- healthcare
- ionic liquid
- magnetic resonance imaging
- magnetic resonance
- mass spectrometry
- climate change
- quality improvement
- cancer therapy
- single molecule
- tandem mass spectrometry
- water soluble
- single cell
- energy transfer
- simultaneous determination