Preparation of Enzymatically Recyclable Hydrogels Through the Formation of Inclusion Complexes of Amylose in a Vine-Twining Polymerization

In this paper, we describe the preparation of hydrogels through the formation of an inclusion complex of amylose in a vine-twining polymerization. This is achieved by the phosphorylase-catalyzed polymerization of α-D-glucose 1-phosphate from maltoheptaose primer, in the presence of a water-soluble copolymer having hydrophobic graft-chains (poly(acrylic acid sodium salt-graft-δ-valerolactone)). The mixture turns into a gel during the polymerization process. Evaluation of the hydrogels is conducted by shear-viscosity measurements of the products. For the hydrogels with relatively high viscosities, fast relaxation modes of the cooperative diffusions are observed by scanning microscopic light scattering measurements, which indicate the nanometer-size network structures of the hydrogels. In addition, we found that the enzymatic disruption and reproduction of the hydrogels are achieved by the combination of the amylase-catalyzed hydrolysis of the amylose component and the formation of amylose by the phosphorylase-catalyzed polymerization.