Dynamic Covalent Hydrogels for Wound Healing

Abstract

Given their hydrophilic nature, hydrogels have shown great potential as wound dressing materials. However, traditional hydrogel dressing materials are static and do not adapt to dynamic wound environments, which in turn limits their wound healing efficacy. Introducing dynamic covalent chemistries can be an effective strategy to improve hydrogel properties for effective wound healing, such as shape adaptability, stimuli responsiveness, self-healing capability, and antibacterial properties. We discuss the properties and chemistries of dynamic covalent bonds for wound healing. We critically analyze the advances of dynamic covalent hydrogels for wound healing and further propose new dynamic covalent chemistries for wound healing.

Keywords: biomedical materials; dynamic covalent chemistries; hydrogel; polymers; reversible bonds; wound healing.