Stimuli‐Responsive Dipeptide–Protein Hydrogels through Schiff Base Coassembly

Abstract Different from the conventional irreversible covalent conjugations, a simple and efficient dynamic Schiff base covalent assembly is developed to construct the stable and smart dipeptide–protein hydrogels under mild conditions. Diphenylalanine–hemoglobin hydrogel is chosen to investigate the gelation formation process and mechanism. It is found that such assembled dipeptide–protein hydrogels are sensitive to pH variation, and simultaneously the proteins can be released without changing the native secondary structures from the gels. Furthermore, these adaptive hydrogels can encapsulate a series of small molecules, multicomponent proteins, and functional nanoparticles. These versatile hydrogels may find a great potential in bioapplications.