22: Smart Nanogels for Biomedical Applications

Chapter 22 Smart nanogels are one of the most important innovations that have emerged in the field of nanomedicine and biomedical applications. In recent advances in the applications of biomaterials, nanogels have emerged as novel candidates for drug delivery, biosensing, imaging, tissue engineering, and targeted delivery of bioactive compounds. The present chapter gives a basic understanding of the hydrogels and introduces the nanoparticle form of hydrogels known as “Nanogels.” Nanogels have synergistic properties due to their interpenetrating networks as well as nanoscale properties such as small size and high surface-to-volume ratio. These hybrid materials exhibit high drug loading, are capable of crossing strong barriers and are also highly biocompatible. In brief, this chapter describes the basic synthetic methodology and characterization techniques of nanogels. It also discusses the natural and synthetic polymers deployed for the synthesis of nanogels. Moreover, it highlights the important literature reported for the biomedical applications of nanogels.