'Switchable' smart gel may pave way for next-gen drug delivery and sensing tech

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Add as preferred source Understanding how the gel is assembled at the atomic scale required a technique called Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. A tiny quantity of gel was packed into a ceramic rotor like this and spun at nearly one million revolutions per minute inside a powerful magnet. The measurements revealed how palladium atoms connect the foldamer molecules to form the gel's molecular backbone. Credit: Dominik Kubicki University of Birmingham scientists have developed a new material that changes from a gel to a liquid-like state under ultraviolet light and can be rebuilt using heat or dismantled by acid.