Tailoring Polymeric Hydrogels through Cyclodextrin Host-Guest Complexation.

A close correllation between molecular-level interactions and macroscopic characteristics of polymer networks exists. The characteristics of the polymeric hydrogels assembled from β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and adamantyl (AD) substituted poly(acrylate)s can be tailored through selective host-guest complexation between β-CD and AD substituents and their tethers. Dominantly, steric effects and competitive intra- and intermolecular host-guest complexation are found to control poly(acrylate) isomeric inter-strand linkage in polymer network formation. This understanding of the factors involved in polymeric hydrogel formation points the way towards the construction of increasingly sophisticated biocompatible materials.