As a highly absorbent and hydrophobic material with a three-dimensional network structure, hydrogels are widely used in biomedical fields for their excellent biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, adjustable physicochemical properties, ability to encapsulate a variety of drugs, controllability, and degradability. Hydrogels can be used not only for wound dressings and tissue repair, but also as drug carriers for the treatment of tumors. As multifunctional hydrogels are the focus for many researchers, this review focuses on hydrogels for antitumor therapy, hydrogels for antibacterial therapy, and hydrogels for co-use in tumor therapy and bacterial infection. We highlighted the advantages and representative applications of hydrogels in these fields and also outlined the shortages and future orientations of this useful tool, which might give inspirations for future studies.

Bone infection is a disease that seriously affects patients’ quality of life and physical health. Traditional treatment methods have many drawbacks. Hydrogels loaded with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as an emerging treatment strategy, combine the advantages of good biocompatibility of hydrogels, adjustable drug release performance, and multi-target synergistic treatment of TCM, showing great application potential. This article elaborates in detail on the research progress of hydrogels loaded with TCM for the treatment of bone infections, including the classification and characteristics of hydrogels, the mechanism of action of TCM in the treatment of bone infections, the preparation methods of hydrogels loaded with TCM, application examples, advantages, and the challenges and prospects faced. The aim is to provide new ideas and references for the clinical treatment of bone infections.

Unprecedented free amine-oriented regioselective activations/carbonylations mediated by hexacarbonylmolybdenum have been developed to synthesize 5/6-membered benzolactams respectively.

An up-response ECL imaging system is designed for visualized Pb²⁺ detection with high selectivity.