Photo-responsive gel droplet as a nano- or pico-litre container comprising a supramolecular hydrogelf

摘要

Photo-responsive gel droplets having nano- or pico-L volume that showed photo-induced gel-sol transition were successfully developed, for which the inter-droplet mass transport and the subsequent enzymatic reactions in the interior of the gel droplets were photo-triggered. Photo-responsive hydrogels are regarded as one of the intriguing biomaterials applicable to biological and medical fields. This is because light is one of the ideal stimuli for fabricating and manipulating various properties of semi-wet materials due to its clean, fast, and spatio-and-temporarily controllable features. However, hydrogels having an efficient photo-responsive property have not been sufficiently developed, compared to other types of hydrogels responsive to physical stimuli such as pH or heat. It is now crucial to explore the capability and the limitations of photo-responsive hydrogels as potential biomaterials.