Polymer chemistry and hydrogel systems

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Hydrogels are an interesting class of materials that can be prepared by a variety of methods. The properties of these materials depend on their building blocks and the preparation procedures and can be largely varied.Among the various classes of hydrogels, are the gels based of physically structuring biopolymers, like gelatine. By chemically modifying these biopolymers, hydrogels with a dual crosslinkage (physical and chemical) can be prepared.Hydrogels serve a broad range of applications, including biomaterials, matrices for drug delivery and scaffolds for tissue engineering.