Controlled Silylation of Polysaccharides: Attractive Building Blocks for Biocompatible Foams and Cell-Laden Hydrogels

We established, for the first time, a general methodology to synthesize and isolate hybrid silylated polysaccharides. These well-defined and characterized hybrid building blocks react in aqueous buffer at neutral pH by sol-gel inorganic polymerization, which may allow the preparation of cell-laden hydrogels. Alternatively, these hydrogels can be turned into hybrid xerogels by freeze-drying. Such materials are attractive as biocompatible foams for biological applications. We demonstrated the feasibility of our approach by preparing hybrid and polymerizable counterparts of hyaluronic acid, dextrin, chitosan, and pectin, which display a whole range of chemical functions (hydroxyl, amine, and carboxylic acid). The biocompatibility of selected hybrid hydrogels and foams was assessed at days 1 and 7.