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Redox Reactions

Redox Reactions

Oxidation-reduction or redox reactions involve the transfer of electrons from one molecule or atom to another. When an atom gains an electron, another atom must lose an electron, meaning oxidation and reduction must occur together. Since the redox occurs in pairs, the atom that gets oxidized is also called the reducing agent or reductant, and the atom that is reduced is also called the oxidizing agent or oxidant. A straightforward way to remember the definitions of oxidation and reduction is...

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Synthesis of Stimuli-responsive Nanogels using Aqueous One-step Crosslinking and Co-nanopolymerization

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Recent progress of redox-responsive polymeric nanomaterials for controlled release.

Peng-Hao Hsu¹, Adah Almutairi²

¹Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. aalmutairi@ucsd.edu.

Journal of Materials Chemistry. B

|February 22, 2021

Summary

Redox-responsive polymeric nanomaterials offer targeted drug delivery by responding to disease-related molecules like reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione (GSH). This review highlights recent advancements in these smart nanomaterials for controlled therapeutic release.

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Area of Science:

Polymer Chemistry
Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Biomedical Engineering

Background:

Disturbed redox molecule levels are linked to various diseases, making redox-responsive polymeric nanomaterials (PNMs) promising for drug delivery.
PNMs can be engineered to respond to specific biorelevant redox molecules, including reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione (GSH), and hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

Purpose of the Study:

To review recent advancements (last four years) in redox-responsive PNMs for controlled drug delivery.
To highlight the incorporation of specific redox-responsive moieties within PNMs.
To discuss the mechanisms of payload release triggered by redox stimuli.

Main Methods:

Review of scientific literature focusing on PNMs with redox-responsive moieties.
Analysis of polymer structures incorporating chalcogen ether, thioketal, arylboronic ester, disulfide, azide, and diselenide groups.
Categorization of PNMs based on their responsiveness to specific redox molecules (ROS, GSH, H2S).

Main Results:

Chalcogen ether, thioketal, and arylboronic ester are effective for ROS-responsive PNMs.
Disulfide moieties are commonly used for GSH-responsive PNMs.
Azide and diselenide groups offer selective H2S targeting and dual redox responsiveness, respectively.

Conclusions:

Redox-responsive PNMs offer tunable drug release profiles by incorporating specific moieties.
Recent research has expanded the toolkit of responsive groups for precise targeting of disease-associated redox environments.
These advanced PNMs hold significant potential for developing next-generation targeted therapeutics.