Synthesis and Applications of Gaseous Signal Transmitter-Responsive Polymers

Much attention has been paid to stimuli-responsive polymers in the past few decades due to their broad applications in sensing and imaging, nanomedicines, tissue engineering, smart coating and textiles and so on. Of these, gas-responsive polymers stand out due to that the addition and removal of gas stimuli could be repeatedly manipulated in large volume operations. Indeed, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and oxygen (O₂)-responsive polymers have been well-studied by taking advantage of CO₂-reative moieties (e.g., amines, amidines and carboxyl acids) and fluorine-containing residues, respectively. Polymers that can selectively respond to gaseous signal transmitters such as nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) have far less been explored to date, although these signal transmitters are of curial importance in both physiological and pathological processes. In this review article, the recent advances in the synthesis and applications of gaseous signal transmitter-responsive polymers were outlined. Inspired by the designing strategies of fluorescent probes of gaseous signal transmitters, a number of gaseous signal transmitter-responsive polymers can be fabricated through incorporating gaseous signal transmitter-responsive moieties into polymer matrices. These polymers have potential applications in fluorescent sensing, drug delivery and phase transition modulation. We hope more efforts could be devoted to this intriguing field to promote the development of novel gaseous signal transmitter-responsive polymers.