Thiolated polymeric hydrogels for biomedical application: Cross-linking mechanisms

This review focuses on the synthesis of hydrogel networks using thiomers such as thiolated hyaluronic acid, chitosan, cyclodextrin, poly(ethylene glycol) and dextran that are cross-linked via their thiol substructures. Thiomers have been widely investigated matrix hydrogels due to high reactivity these sulfhydryl moieties. They well known for in situ gelling properties formation inter- intra-chain disulfide bonds. Furthermore, groups polymeric backbone cannot only react with each other but also different functional groups, several “click” methods thiol-ene/yne, Michael type addition thiol-epoxy reactions developed within last decades fabricate thiomer hydrogels. These meanwhile used scaffolds tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, diagnostics drug protein delivery.