大澤 重仁
   Department   Research Institutes and Facilities, Research Institutes and Facilities
   Position  
Article types Original article
Language English
Peer review Peer reviewed
Title Physicochemical Properties of Egg-Box-Mediated Hydrogels with Transiently Decreased pH Employing Carbonated Water
Journal Formal name:ACS omega.
Abbreviation:ACS Omega
ISSN code:24701343
Domestic / ForeginForegin
Volume, Issue, Page 8(8),pp.7800-7807
Total page number 8
Author and coauthor Ryota Teshima, Shigehito Osawa, Yayoi Kawano, Takehisa Hanawa, Akihiko Kikuchi, and Hidenori Otsuka
Authorship 2nd author
Publication date 2023/02/28
Summary Anionic polysaccharides, including low-methoxy (LM) pectin, are extensively used in biomaterial applications
owing to their safety, biocompatibility, and feasibility in constructing supramolecular assemblies by forming egg-box structures with divalent cations. Mixing an LM pectin solution with CaCO3 spontaneously forms a hydrogel. The gelation behavior can be controlled by adding an acidic compound to change the solubility of CaCO3. CO2 is used as the acidic agent and can be easily removed after gelation, thereby reducing the acidity of the final hydrogel. However, CO2 addition has been controlled under varied thermodynamical conditions; therefore, specific CO2 effects on gelation are not necessarily visualized. To evaluate the CO2 impact on the final hydrogel, which would be extended to control hydrogel properties further, we utilized carbonated water to supply CO2 into the gelation mixture without changing its thermodynamic conditions. The addition of the carbonated water accelerated gelation and significantly increased the mechanical strength, promoting cross-linking. However, the CO2 volatilized into the atmosphere, and the final hydrogel became more alkaline than that without the carbonated water, probably because a considerable amount of the carboxy group was consumed for cross-linking. Moreover, when aerogels were prepared from the hydrogels with carbonated water, they exhibited highly ordered networks of elongated porosity in scanning electron microscopy, proposing an intrinsic structural change by CO2 in the carbonated water. We also controlled the pH and strength of the final hydrogels by changing the CO2 amounts in the carbonated water added, thereby validating the significant effect of CO2 on hydrogel properties and the feasibility of using carbonated water.
DOI 10.1021/acsomega.2c07552