Bioorthogonally Cross-Linked Hydrogel Network with Precisely Controlled Disintegration Time over a Broad Range

ABSTRACT: Hydrogels with predictable degradation are highly desired for biomedical applications where timely disintegration of the hydrogel (e.g., drug delivery, guided tissue regeneration) is required. However, precisely controlling hydrogel degradation over a broad range in a predictable manner is challenging due to limited intrinsic variability in the degradation rate of liable bonds and difficulties in modeling degradation kinetics for complex polymer networks. More often than not, empirical tuning of the degradation profile results in undesired changes in other properties. Here we report a simple but versatile hydrogel platform that allows us to formulate hydrogels with predictable disintegration time from 2 to>250 days yet comparable macroscopic physical properties. This platform is based on a well-defined network formed by tw