Formation of Physical Hydrogels via Host−Guest Interactions of β-Cyclodextrin Polymers and Copolymers Bearing Adamantyl Groups

In this paper, we would like to present a novel system of host−guest hydrogels. By polymerizing adamantyl containing acrylamide monomers (12−15) with water soluble comonomers, we synthesized various copolymers bearing guest components. As host system we applied easily accessible β-cyclodextrin polymers with Mn values of about 30K−100K g mol−1. The viscosity of the resulting hydrogel could be influenced by the concentration of both substances, by the length of the carbon spacer chain of the guest monomer, by the pH value or by the conformation of the β-cyclodextrin polymers. Moreover, the hydrogels stayed stable in solutions of starch hydrolyzing enzyme taka-diastase from Aspergillus oryzae.