Smart low molecular weight hydrogels with dynamic covalent skeletons
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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Synthesis of Information-bearing Peptoids and their Sequence-directed Dynamic Covalent Self-assembly
Published on: February 6, 2020
Panpan Sun1, Shujing Ren, Fenglin Liu
1Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Shandong University, Ministry of Education, Jinan 250100, P. R. China. lqzheng@sdu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
We report a new strategy for fabricating a smart low molecular weight hydrogel based on dynamic covalent chemistry from a bola-type supra-gelator, which was facilely fabricated in situ from two non-assembling building blocks, (3-(2-(4-formylphenoxy) ethyl)-1-methyl imidazolium bromide, MA) and (3,3'-dithiobis (propionohydrazide), DSPDZ), through dynamic acylhydrazone bonding. The obtained low molecular weight hydrogels exhibited redox-responsive and controllable self-healing properties. The role of dynamic covalent bonding in the formation of smart hydrogels is revealed in this study, which provides a simple and bottom-up method for constructing smart low molecular weight hydrogels.
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