sodium-iodate and catechol

A facile method was found to incorporate a mussel-inspired adhesive moiety into synthetic polymers, and mussel mimetic polyurethanes were developed as adhesive hydrogels. In these polymers, a urethane backbone was substituted for the polyamide chain of mussel adhesive proteins, and dopamine was appended to mimic the adhesive moiety of adhesive proteins. A series of mussel mimetic polyurethanes were created through a step-growth polymerization based on hexamethylene diisocyanate as a hard segment, PEG having different molecular weights as a soft segment, and lysine-dopamine as a chain extender. Upon a treatment with Fe(3+), the aqueous mussel mimetic polyurethane solutions can be triggered by pH adjustment to form adhesive hydrogels instantaneously; these materials can be used as injectable adhesive hydrogels. Upon a treatment with NaIO4, the mussel mimetic polyurethane solutions can be cured in a controllable period of time. The successful combination of the unique mussel-inspired adhesive moiety with a tunable polyurethane structure can result in a new kind of mussel-inspired adhesive polymers.

Topics: Animals; Biomimetics; Bivalvia; Catechols; Cross-Linking Reagents; Dopamine; Esters; Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Iodates; Iron; Ligands; Lysine; Molecular Weight; Oxidation-Reduction; Polyurethanes; Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Rheology; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Thermogravimetry; Time Factors