Fluorescently labelled chitosan from PolySciTech used in research on hydrogels.

 

Hydrogels are hydrated polymer networks useful for a wide range of biomedical applications. Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and University of Pittsburgh used chitosan derivatives (KITO-1, KITO-9, and KITO-11) from PolySciTech Division of Akina, Inc. (www.polyscitech.com) to research topological adhesion based hydrogels. This research holds promise to provide for a wide range of biomedical applications.Read more: Sun, Jiatai, Qihan Liu, and Jiawei Yang. "Mixing Polymers and Polymer Networks for Topological Adhesion." Available at SSRN 5293526. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5293526

“Adhesion between polymer networks is important for a wide range of medical applications. Established adhesion methods mostly focus on the chemistry design of interfacial bonds to connect two polymer networks. By contrast, a recently developed adhesion method, called topological adhesion, uses stitch polymers to diffuse into two polymer networks and gelate to a new polymer network that connects them through topological entanglement. The prerequisite of topological adhesion is the mixing of stitch polymers and polymer networks. Understanding the mixing process and conditions will guide the design of topological adhesion systems to meet diverse adhesion requirements and situations. In this paper, we combine theoretical modeling and experiments to study the mixing of polymers with polymer networks. The theoretical model is set up as mixing stitch polymers with an in-plane constrained polymer network to replicate the mixing process of topological adhesion. We take a thermodynamic approach to develop the model and determine the concentration of mixing polymers under various material parameters of polymers and polymer networks. We first study two limiting cases in which the stitch polymer is one monomeric size and infinite size. We then provide a set of results on the general mixing cases. We further conduct experiments by immersing in-plane constrained hydrogels in fluorescence-labeled polymer solutions and characterizing the mixing concentration. The experiment results agree well with the theoretical prediction, except for cases with extremely low polymer concentrations. We finally discuss the design guidelines for enhancing the mixing of polymers and polymer networks for topological adhesion. Keywords: Topological adhesion, polymer, hydrogel, mixing”

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