Wet spinning of a library of carbohydrate low molecular weight gels

Hypothesis: Recently, a low molecular weight hydrogel based on a carbohydrate alkyl amide has been successfully used as biomaterial for neuron cell culture and for 3D printing. Varying the molecular struc-ture should make it possible to extend the library of carbohydrate low molecular weight hydrogels avail-able for these applications and to improve their performances. Experiments: Thirteen molecules easy to synthetize and designed to be potentially biocompatible were prepared. They are based on gluconamide, glucoheptonamide, galactonamide, glucamide, aliphatic chains and glycine. Their gelation in water was investigated in thermal conditions and wet spinning conditions, namely by dimethylsulfoxide-water exchange under injection. Findings: Nine molecules give hydrogels in thermal conditions. By wet spinning, six molecules self-assemble fast enough, within few seconds, to form continous hydrogel filaments. Therefore, the method enables to shape by injection these mechanically fragile hydrogels, notably in the perspective of 3D print-ing. Depending on the molecular structure, persistent or soluble gel filaments are obtained. The microstructures are varied, featuring entangled ribbons, platelets or particles. In thermal gelation, mole-cules with a symmetrical polar head (galacto, glucoheptono) give flat ribbons and molecules with an asymmetrical polar head (gluco) give helical ribbons. The introduction of an extra glycine linker disturbs this trend. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A low molecular weight hydrogel based on carbohydrate alkyl amide has been successfully used for neuron cell culture and 3D printing. Thirteen molecules designed for potential biocompatibility were prepared and investigated for their gelation properties in thermal and wet spinning conditions. The study showed that different molecular structures can lead to varied microstructures of the hydrogels, impacting their potential applications in 3D printing.