Over the past century, hydrogels have emerged as effective materials for an immense variety of applications. The unique network structure of hydrogels enables very high levels of hydrophilicity and biocompatibility, while at the same time exhibiting the soft physical properties associated with living tissue, making them ideal biomaterials. Stimulus-responsive hydrogels have been especially impactful, allowing for unprecedented levels of control over material properties in response to external cues. This enhanced control has enabled groundbreaking advances in healthcare, allowing for more effective treatment of a vast array of diseases and improved approaches for tissue engineering and wound healing. In this extensive review, we identify and discuss the multitude of response modalities that have been developed, including temperature, pH, chemical, light, electro, and shear-sensitive hydrogels. We discuss the theoretical analysis of hydrogel properties and the mechanisms used to create these responses, highlighting both the pioneering and most recent work in all of these fields. Finally, we review the many current and proposed applications of these hydrogels in medicine and industry.

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Stimulus-responsive hydrogels: Theory, modern advances, and applications

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The Lipophilic Bullet Hits the Targets: Medicinal Chemistry of Adamantane Derivatives

Marilyn Monroe knew that "diamonds are a girl's best friend" but, in the meantime, many chemists have realized that they are also extremely attractive objects in contemporary chemistry. The chemist's diamonds are usually quite small (herein: nanometer-sized "diamondoids") and as a result of their unique structure are unusual chemical building blocks. Since lower diamondoids (up to triamantane) have recently become available in large amounts from petroleum and higher diamondoids (starting from tetramantane) are now also accessible from crude oil new research involving them has begun to emerge. Having well-defined structures makes these cage compounds so special compared to other nanometer-scale diamonds. Selective and high-yielding synthetic approaches to the functionalization of diamondoids gives derivatives that can find applications in, for example, polymers, coating materials, drugs, and molecular electronics.

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Diamonds are a Chemist's Best Friend: Diamondoid Chemistry Beyond Adamantane

Rational design of network properties in guest-host assembled and shear-thinning hyaluronic acid hydrogels.

The chemistry of organic polycyclic cage compounds has intrigued medicinal chemists for over 50 years, yet little is published about their pharmacological profiles. Polycyclic cage compounds have important pharmaceutical applications, ranging from the symptomatic and proposed curative treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease (e.g., amantadine and memantine), to use as anti-viral agents against influenza and the immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The polycyclic cage appears to be a useful scaffold to yield drugs with a wide scope of applications, and can be used also to modify and improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of drugs in current use. This review attempts to summarize the pharmacological profiles of polycyclic cage compounds with an emphasis on the lesser known pentacycloundecanes, homocubanes, and trishomocubanes.

Pharmacology and structure-activity relationships of bioactive polycyclic cage compounds: a focus on pentacycloundecane derivatives.

Original papers describing the biological properties of adamantane-containing drugs reported on the antiviral activity of 1-aminoadamantane [1]. Presently, the amino derivatives of adamantane are widely used for the prophylaxis and treatment of various viral diseases [2 -4 ] and parkinsonism [5 7]. Six adamantane derivatives are currently used in modem medicine, and two novel preparations have been recently certified.

Adamantane derivatives: Pharmacological and toxicological properties (review)

The specific effect of bromantan on blood tissue is demonstrated in rats. In chronic injection in a dose of 30 mg/kg bromantan raised the level of hemoglobin and leukocytes. In doses of 150 and 600 mg/kg it increased at first (3 months) and then reduced the level of erythrocytes, hemoglobin, and leukocytes. Reversible poikilocytosis, granulocytosis, and agranulocytosis were encountered. Hyperchromatosis and hypertrophy of the hepatocytes were found in the tissues of the liver and hemosiderosis was discovered in the spleen. It is suggested that the blood tissue is a "target" in the toxic effect of bromantan.

L. I. Bugaeva

Papers

Adamantane derivatives: Pharmacological and toxicological properties (review)

[The effect of bromantane on the erythro- and leukocytic profile of the peripheral blood in rats].