High-Throughput Combinatorial Synthesis of Stimuli-Responsive Materials.

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive materials find wide applications in different biological and medical settings. Traditionally, stimuli-responsive materials are synthesized and evaluated individually one-by-one. The drawback of this approach is the scarceness of possible combinations that can be practically tested for the purpose of saving time, consumables, and manpower. High-throughput methods are therefore important to accelerate the discovery of stimuli-responsive materials and to screen for biological interactions of interest in parallel. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the successful employment of combinatorial high-throughput synthesis and screening of stimuli-responsive materials. In particular, these include thermoresponsive and hydroresponsive materials. Advantages of a combinatorial approach as well as of utilizing high-throughput methodologies in the development of stimuli-responsive materials are reviewed. Possible evolution trends of stimuli-responsive materials, advanced by high-throughput methodologies, are discussed.