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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Sep 29.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Nanotechnol. 2021 Mar 29;16(6):698–707. doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-00875-7

Figure 1. Design and synthesis of tetra-gel (TG) for expansion microscopy.

Figure 1.

a, Cell/tissue-hydrogel composites formed by in situ free-radical chain-growth polymerization are known to have structural inhomogeneities in the range of tens of nanometres due to (1) local fluctuations of monomer and cross-linking densities, (2) dangling ends, and (3) loops formed within the polymer network. b, Design of TG monomer 1 and 2 with tetrahedral symmetry and reactive terminal groups. Specific monomer 2 terminal groups (2’, 2’’ and 2’’’) enable, for example, control of the reaction rate between the monomers and addition of functionalities to the polymer network. c, Formation and expansion of TG via click-chemistry-based terminal-linking of monomer 1 and 2. Inset, projected view of the TG polymer network.