The rational design of a peptide-based hydrogel responsive to H₂S

The development of hydrogels that are responsive to external stimuli in a well-controlled manner is important for numerous biomedical applications. Herein we reported the first example of a hydrogel responsive to hydrogen sulphide (H₂S). H₂S is an important gasotransmitter whose deregulation has been associated with a number of pathological conditions. Our hydrogel design is based on the functionalization of an ultrashort hydrogelating peptide sequence with an azidobenzyl moiety, which was reported to react with H₂S selectively under physiological conditions. The resulting peptide was able to produce hydrogels at a concentration as low as 0.1 wt%. It could then be fully degraded in the presence of excess H₂S. We envision that the novel hydrogel developed in this study may provide useful tools for biomedical research.