Novel stereocomplexed sol-gel transition hydrogels prepared from physical packing of self-assembled PEO-PPO-PEO and PPO-PEO-PPO copolymer nanoscale micelles

A new class of stereocomplex-induced hydrogels was synthesized based on self-assembled PEO-PPO-PEO and PPO-PEO-PPO copolymers having multiple hydroxyl groups in the PPO segment. The copolymers were grafted with enantiomeric oligo(L-lactic acid) or oligo(D-lactic acid) chains using ring opening polymerization onto the PPO segment. WAXS and DSC analysis were used to investigate the stereocomplex formation of the equimolar mixture of the copolymers. The copolymer hydrogels having stereocomplexed crystalline domains as crosslinking loci exhibited significantly altered temperature-sensitive sol-gel transition behaviors, and showed more delayed erosion and sustained protein release behaviors, compared to Pluronic F127 copolymer hydrogels. The current hydrogels are expected to be used as useful injectable hydrogel materials for macromolecular drug delivery.