Dynamic covalent hydrogel of natural product baicalin with antibacterial activities

Baicalin has been demonstrated to have multiple pharmacological activities but low solubility. Various baicalin hydrogels have been used to improve its solubility and break its limitation in clinical applications. However, traditional baicalin hydrogels contain numerous ingredients and usually show low baicalin loading capacity. Herein, we discovered a dynamic covalent hydrogel only consisting of baicalin and inorganic borate, in which baicalin is considered as the carrier and drug without other ingredients. The dynamic boronate bonds endow the hydrogel with excellent degradability and multi-stimuli-responsiveness. Moreover, the hydrogel displayed remarkable thixotropy, moldability, and self-healing properties. And the biocompatible baicalin hydrogel exhibited significant antibacterial activities, and can be considered as a potential drug delivery system for biomedical applications. We discovered a dynamic covalent hydrogel with 3D pore structure, in which baicalin were linked by boronate esters. The baicalin hydrogel displayed remarkable thixotropy, moldability, self-healing, and multi-stimuli-responsive properties.