A nucleoside responsive diaminotriazine-based hydrogen bonding strengthened hydrogel

Controlled or targeted release system responding to a specific biomolecular signal is an ideal goal in drug delivery. Herein, we fabricated diaminotriazine-diaminotriazine (DAT-DAT) hydrogen bonding strengthened functional hydrogels by one step of photo-initiated copolymerization which demonstrated unprecedented nucleoside responsive behavior. The hydrogen bonded hydrogels became increasingly swollen in response to thymidine due to much stronger competition of DAT-thymidine with DAT-DAT hydrogen bonding. Interestingly, thymidine was shown to facilitate drug release from the gels. This proof of concept study offers a new avenue to design and construct smart biomaterials capable of delivering target drug by virtue of nucleosides potentially from endogenously synthesized or indigested diet. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.