Figure 4.

Swelling of norbornene-based hydrogels in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). (A) The photograph of the hydrogels 0, 2, and 28 days after cross-linking and soaking in PBS at 37 °C. Morphology of PVA-Nb hydrogel (10 % wt/vol) cross-linked with 0.5 equivalent of thiol 2,2′-(Ethylenedioxy)diethanethiol (DT) and 2 mM lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP). (A) PVA-Nb, (B) PVA-Nb/SDCM30, and (C) PVA-Nb/SDCM50 were successfully cross-linked into hydrogels. (B) The sizes of the hydrogels over the course of the 28-day experiment and the (C) swelling percentages are presented over the course of 48 h incubation in PBS.