Issue 48, 2020

Pyridyl disulfide-based thiol–disulfide exchange reaction: shaping the design of redox-responsive polymeric materials

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the utilization of stimuli-responsive polymers in various areas of materials and biological sciences. In particular, disulfide linkage containing redox-responsive polymers have attracted interest in various biomedical applications ranging from fabrication of drug delivery vehicles to diagnostic interfaces. Cleavage of the disulfide linkage in the presence of an endogenous reducing agent, namely, glutathione, also found in increased amounts in diseased tissues has led to the incorporation of this particular linkage into several therapeutic platforms. Among the various methods available for introducing the redox-sensitive disulfide unit, the pyridyl disulfide (PDS) moiety has been one of the most widely employed building blocks. The rapid thiol–disulfide exchange reaction of the PDS group with thiol functional groups has been exploited from the reversible conjugation of therapeutic agents to the fabrication of redox-responsive crosslinked materials such as hydrogels and nanogels. This review provides an overview of various synthetic approaches utilized to incorporate this particular thiol-reactive motif into different types of polymeric materials and briefly highlights its utilization to obtain functional materials.

Graphical abstract: Pyridyl disulfide-based thiol–disulfide exchange reaction: shaping the design of redox-responsive polymeric materials

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
27 Aug 2020
Accepted
23 Oct 2020
First published
25 Nov 2020

Polym. Chem., 2020,11, 7603-7624

Pyridyl disulfide-based thiol–disulfide exchange reaction: shaping the design of redox-responsive polymeric materials

I. Altinbasak, M. Arslan, R. Sanyal and A. Sanyal, Polym. Chem., 2020, 11, 7603 DOI: 10.1039/D0PY01215G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements