Wei Cao, Xiaoli Zhang, Xiaoming Miao, Zhimou Yang, and Huaping Xu
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2013, 52, 6233-6237.
An overwhelming response: The exposure of a supramolecular hydrogel based on a diselenide-containing polymer and a peptide amphiphile containing a drug moiety to γ radiation led to a gel–sol transition owing to the oxidative cleavage of diselenide bonds in the polymer main chain (see picture). The hydrogel can also act as a UV-mediated drug self-delivery system and suggests a new avenue for combined radio- and chemotherapy.
