Photopolymerized maleilated chitosan/thiol-terminated poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogels as potential tissue engineering scaffolds

•Photocrosslinkable maleilated chitosan with high acrylate substitution was synthesized.•The MCS/TPVA thiol-ene hydrogels could gel rapidly and have improved mechanical property close to native tissue.•The hydrogels had good biocompatibility. Photocrosslinkable hydrogels composed of natural materials exhibit great application potential in tissue engineering scaffolds. However, weak formation and poor mechanical property can usually be a limitation. Herein, the photo-clickable thiol-ene hydrogels based chitosan were synthesized using photopolymerization of maleic chitosan (MCS) and thiol-terminated poly (vinyl alcohol) (TPVA) in the presence of a biocompatible photoinitiator. Rheological property and absorbing behavior of the MCS/TPVA hydrogels could be tailored by varying the amount of TPVA in the feed. There was strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the molecules of MCS and TPVA. Notably, the MCS/TPVA hydrogel (MT-3) exhibited rapid gelation behavior (