The supramolecular crosslinking of polymer chains in water by specific, directional and dynamic non-covalent interactions has led to the development of novel supramolecular polymeric hydrogels. These aqueous polymeric networks constitute an interesting class of soft materials exhibiting attractive properties such as stimuli-responsiveness and self-healing arising from their dynamic behaviour and that are crucial for a wide variety of emerging applications. We present here a critical review summarising the formation of dynamic polymeric networks through specific non-covalent interactions, with a particular emphasis on those systems based on host–guest complex formation, as well as the characterisation of their physical characteristics. Aqueous supramolecular chemistry has unlocked a versatile toolbox for the design and fine-tuning of the material properties of these hydrogels (264 references).

Be My Guests: For a range of applications, including medical diagnostics or drug delivery, it is necessary to encapsulate one or more components into a microcapsule. While there are many methods that can do this, most either produce a range of capsule size or are not easily scalable for making large quantities. J. Zhang et al. (p. 690 ) developed a microfluidic-based system for making capsules using host-guest chemistry. Cucurbit[8]uril, which readily forms complexes in water, was used as the host molecule and could accommodate two different guest molecules. Rapid complexation was observed of methyl viologen–modified gold nanoparticles and a naphthol-containing copolymer.