Supramolecular hydrogels prepared from fluorescent alkyl pyridinium acrylamide monomers and CB[8]

We introduce a facile new synthetic methodology for the preparation of alkyl pyridinium-containing acrylamide monomers. Inclusion complexes of these new monomers with CB[8] facilitate supramolecular crosslinking in a series of hydrogel formed through in-situ polymerisation. The resulting hydrogels not only show greatly enhanced mechanical properties over a purely acrylamide- based gel but by selecting fluorescent pyridine moieties, the materials are endowed with the fluorescent properties desirable for several sensing applications.D.J.W thanks the EPSRC for a PhD studentship (EP/R512461/1). The authors also thank the Leverhulme Trust (Natural Material Innovation, RP2013-SL-008) and in particular the EPSRC (NOtCH, EP/L027151/1) for financial support