Abstract
A G-rich nucleic acid-tethered acrylamide/N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) copolymer is prepared. The nucleic acid-modified pNIPAM chains assemble, in the presence of K+ ions, into a stimuli-responsive G-quadruplex-crosslinked pNIPAM hydrogel undergoing cyclic and reversible solution/hydrogel/solid transitions. Addition of kryptofix [2.2.2], CP, to the K+-stabilized G-quadruplex-crosslinked hydrogel eliminates the K+ ions from the crosslinking units, resulting in the transition of the hydrogel into a pNIPAM solution. In turn, heating the pNIPAM hydrogel from 25°C to 40°C results in the transition of the hydrogel to the solid state, and cooling the solid to 25°C restores the hydrogel state. Incorporation of hemin into the G-quadruplex-crosslinked hydrogel results in a catalytic hydrogel that catalyzes the oxidation of aniline by H2O2 to form polyaniline. The polyaniline/pNIPAM hydrogel hybrid doped with 2 M HCl forms an emeraldine salt, which exhibits an electrical conductivity of 9 × 10-4 [cm Ω]-1.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 6659-6664 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Chemical Science |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 10 Aug 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Royal Society of Chemistry.