Self-assembled hydrogels based on natural active ingredients: mechanisms, applications and characterization

microenvironment. Hydrogels have a wide range of applications, including in critical medical areas such as wound healing, cancer therapy and drug delivery. The self-assembly process of polyphenols, polysaccharides, and proteins relies on the fine and diverse non-covalent interactions between molecules, including hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions, π-π interactions, and hydrophobic interactions. Polysaccharide molecules form strong networks through hydrogen bonding between sugar chains. Polyphenol molecules self-assemble through intermolecular hydrogen bonding involving hydroxyl groups and π-π interactions between benzene rings, while proteins are involved in this process through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions due to their specific amino acid sequences and spatial conformations. In addition, these components exhibit stimulus-responsive self-assembly properties when stimulated in the physiological microenvironment. We have classified and summarized these components to identify other components with similar structures and mechanisms. This work is expected to provide theoretical support for the research on biomedical materials.