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Activated dopamine derivatives are synthesized and evaluated as primers between a TEC-crosslinked matrix and bone. Dopamine derivatives are shown to significantly increase the adhesive strength of fiber-reinforced adhesive bone patches.

The branched architectures of dendritic polymers display a large number of end groups, and dendrimers have been extensively evaluated as scaffolds in a large array of research fields, including biomedicine and nanotechnology. From the number of potential applications that require advanced crosslinked films, dendritic macromolecules are attractive as scaffolds that deliver on promising crosslinked three-dimensional (3D) networks. This review briefly covers a description of the family of functional dendritic polymers, ranging from dendrimers and dendrons to hyperbranched polymers and dendritic linear hybrids. The review also contains a detailed report on proposed chemistries for the exploitation of dendritic materials as scaffolds in the field of advanced networks. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39876.

Since extraction of the naturally occurring musselfoot proteins is expensive and time-consuming, routes towards synthetic analogues are continuously being explored. Often, these methods involve several protection and deprotection steps, making the synthesis of synthetic analogues timeconsuming and expensive as well. Herein, we show that UVinitiated thiol-ene coupling between a thiol-functional dopamine derivative and an allyl-functional aliphatic polycarbonate can be used as a fast and facile route to dopa-functional materials. Different thiol-to-allyl ratios and irradiation protocols were used and it was found that nearly 50% of the allyl groups could be functionalized with dopa within short reaction times, without the need of protecting the catechol. It is also demonstrated herein that the dopa-functional polymers can be used to form self-healing gels through complexation with Fe 31 ions at increased pH.

Multi‐drug delivery systems constructed from a basic polymeric scaffold, and which have the ability to target a variety of biomedical applications, can streamline the development of nanomedicine to provide both environmental and economical relief. Herein, amphiphilic ABA‐triblock copolymers are synthesized and assembled sequentially into micelles and nanogels as drug delivery systems following a thorough evaluation on advanced in vitro models to explore their potential for the treatment of cancer and bacterial infections. Short blocks of 5‐methyl‐5‐allyloxycarbonyl‐1,3‐dioxan‐2‐one (MAC) are oligomerized from PEG6k and thereafter functionalized with dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa)‐functional thiols using thiol‐ene coupling (TEC) click chemistry. The copolymers self‐assemble into well‐defined micelles in aqueous solution and are further formulated into nanogels via UV‐induced TEC. The resulting spherical micelles and nanogels are stable nanoparticles, with sizes ranging between 100 and 200 nm. The nanogels are found to be non‐toxic to a panel of cell lines and mask the toxicity of the potent drugs until their release. The nanogels would be superior to micelles for the elimination of cancer cells supported by both 2D cell culture and a 3D spheroid model. The opposite conclusion could be drawn for bacteria inhibition.