Environmentally responsive or smart biomaterials have emerged as an answer to
the pursuit and growing need for efficient bio-mimicking stimuli responsive systems. Their
efficiency resides in the ability to sense a given perturbation in the biological environment
through interfacial interaction and respond intelligently, as per biological need, through
switching of their physicochemical properties. The distinct environmental changes that
could trigger such responses include a change in temperature, pH, ionic strength, light,
electric and magnetic field. Polymers with the plethora of possible chemistry provide a
drive for exhaustive exploration and are therefore the focal of environment responsive
biomaterials. Advancement in chemistry combined with biology provides a better approach
to synthesize novel polymers, incorporating functionalities and developing supramolecular
architectures which can impart new bio-interfacial properties. The leading avenues of
environmentally responsive polymers application are tissue engineering, regenerative
medicines, integrated bio-sensors, drug delivery and multi-responsive materials but are not
limited to them. Development of single, dual or even multifunctional materials can be
possible through appropriate design, synthesis method and the combination of the building
blocks. The chapter reviews an array of polymeric materials responsive to internal stimuli
with key insight into the recent strategies employed for their synthesis and modification for
specific biomedical application. The chapter further presents a close discussion on the
interfacial characteristics of these polymers that enable reversible switching of
physicochemical properties in response to different environmental cues prevailing in a
biological system.
Keywords: Bio-interface, stimuli responsive, switching physiochemical
properties, conjugation, biomaterials.
