The synthesis and characterisation of optimised supramolecular hydrogels toward cell culture

Hydrogels are materials in quotidian life, such as food, shower gels, contact lenses, hygiene, personal care, or medicines. Mainly, supramolecular hydrogels have been studied for their use in biomedical applications such as drug delivery and tissue regeneration because they interact and mimic the cell environment.

This project focuses on designing and developing new gelators formed by a biomolecule, such as a monosaccharide or a peptide conjugated with an aromatic moiety. Monosaccharides and peptides are highly biocompatible and biodegradable. They show low toxicity and good bio-recognition as well as are enantiomeric molecules. Several reaction conditions and purification processes were studied for optimisation to obtain these LMWGs. These molecules were characterised by multiple techniques such as NMR, MS, FTIR, and optical rotation to confirm their structure, conformation, and purity. Some LMWGs were studied regarding their ability to form hydrogels in water and different aqueous solutions and gelation conditions to improve the solubility of these gelators. Properties such as the minimum gelation concentration (MGC), gel-solution transition temperature (Tgel-sol), and stability over time at room temperature and 37 ºC were studied. Hydrogels and xerogels were characterised by a wide range of techniques such as electronic microscopy to confirm their morphology, rheology to know mechanical properties, and spectroscopic techniques such as UV-Vis absorbance, 2D/3D optical density, fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) to show the presence of self-assembling via supramolecular interactions. A selection of hydrogels was tested in MCF-7 and Jurkat T cell lines for biocompatibility to assign a potential biomedical application.

New synthetic and purification conditions successfully obtained the desired gelators in an excellent yield. These gelators could form supramolecular hydrogels by different aqueous media using gelation triggers, although the solubility profile of these molecules needs to be improved. The characterisation of the hydrogels by other techniques showed their several properties.