Self-Assembled Nanogels of Cholesterol-Bearing Hydroxypropyl Cellulose: A Thermoresponsive Building Block for Nanogel Tectonic Materials.

Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) is a fascinating polysaccharide to use in developing a nanogel to be a thermoresponsive building unit for nanogel tectonic materials. Cholesterol-bearing HPC (Ch-HPC) self-assembled to form nanogels through hydrophobic interactions of the cholesteryl groups in water. Ch-HPC nanogels had a lower critical solution temperature in line with that of native HPC. The particle size of Ch-HPC nanogels was reversibly controlled by the temperature and salting-out effect. The thermoresponsive property was also observed in Ch-HPC nanogel-cross-linked macrogels. These results suggest that a Ch-HPC nanogel is an attractive building block for thermoresponsive nanogel tectonic materials.