Stimuli-responsive glycopolymers and their biological applications

Glycopolymers are synthetic polymers, containing sugar groups on their pendant chains. They have been widely investigated for various biological and biomedical applications due to excellent hydrophilicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. Glycopolymers can mimic the biological functions of glycan in recognition processes through multivalent lectin interactions. Stimuli-responsive polymers such as thermo-responsive, pH-responsive, and light-responsive materials have also attracted much attention in biomedical applications. By incorporation of responsive chains in glycopolymers, they can be responsive to the changes in their surrounding medium. Moreover, this combination provides materials with selective binding to specific cells and the ability to enhance and control the lectin-polymer interactions effectively and selectively with changes in the surrounded environment. These smart glycopolymers have potential applications in the biomedical field and targeted drug delivery systems. Various investigations and research have been done to design novel polymeric systems with enhanced properties. This review mainly highlights the progress done in recent years on stimuli-responsive glycopolymers primarily focusing on mostly used (thermo, pH, and light) stimuli-responsive glycopolymers and their applications.

Automated summary

Glycopolymers with sugar groups on their pendant chains have excellent hydrophilicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, making them promising for biological and biomedical applications. Stimuli-responsive polymers, such as thermo-responsive, pH-responsive, and light-responsive materials, have also gained attention for their ability to respond to changes in the surrounding environment.