Synthesis and Testing of Glucose-Responsive Hydrogels

For the synthesis [2 (link),32 (link)] of the hydrogel, acrylamide (AAM) was obtained from Fluka Analytical. N-[3 (dimethylamino)propyl]acrylamide (DMA) was purchased from Polysciences Inc. (Warrington, PA, USA), and 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid (3-APB) was purchased from Frontier Scientific (Logan, UT, USA). N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS), 4-(2-Hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ammonium persulfate (APS), and N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). For hydrogel testing in a medium with high ionic concentrations, 1X-PBS was prepared from Dulbecco’s phosphate buffered saline powder with pH and ionic strength adjusted to 7.4 and 155 mM, respectively. For hydrogel testing of an analyte with low ionic concentration, deionized (DI) water was used for testing.