Synthesis and characterization of tannic acid-PEG hydrogel via Mitsunobu polymerization

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 1724 - 1732
• Main Authors: Chen, Chen, Geng, Xi-Wen, Pan, Ya-Hui, Ma, Yu-Ning, Ma, Yu-Xia, Gao, Shu-Zhong, Huang, Xiao-Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 09.01.2020; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Acids; Antioxidants; Biological properties; Biomedical materials; Catechol; Chemistry; Condensation polymerization; Crosslinking; E coli; Gold; Hydrogels; Hydrophobicity; Nanoparticles; Organic chemistry; Polyethylene glycol; Polymerization; Scavenging; Silver; Tannic acid
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ra09229c

Tannic acid (TA) based materials have received significant interest owing to their broad spectrum of chemical and biological properties. Herein, a novel tannic acid based hydrogel, TA-PEG hydrogel, was synthesized Mitsunobu polymerization/polycondensation, in which TA and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were simply crosslinked together by ether linkages. This method was performed in one pot, straightforward, metal free and robust, ignoring the strong ionic/hydrophobic interactions between tannic acid and PEG. Bearing catechol and pyrogallol units from TA, TA-PEG hydrogel did not only reduce the silver and gold precursor, but also served as a capping agent and stabilizer for the formed Au and Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the hydrogel was excellent (94%) in the case of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging. TA-PEG hydrogel also showed antibacterial activity against and . This work suggested a new method leading to polyphenol based soft materials rather than a complex coacervated microstructure. The resulting TA-PEG hydrogel has potential application in biomedical materials.