Constructing gelatin hydrogels through photopolymerization is getting increasingly attractive due to their excellent biocompatibility and unparalleled flexibility in fabricating complex structures. In this study, an alginate-based macromolecular photoinitiator (Alg-2959) is synthesized by grafting Irgacure2959, a widely used hydrophilic small molecular photoinitiator, onto the framework of alginate. The characterization of Alg-2959 is carried out by H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance ((HNMR)-H-1), Fourier infrared spectroscopic (FTIR), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and UV-Vis absorption spectrum. It is shown that Alg-2959 can induce the polymerization of acrylate monomer poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA400) and glycidyl methacrylate modified gelatin (Gel-GM) with similar initiation efficiency as Irgacure2959. Compared with the pure hydrogels prepared using Irgacure2959, the hybrid hydrogels containing Alg-2959 can be further crosslinked by Ca2+ to form the double-network hydrogels, which exhibit enhanced toughness and elasticity. In addition, due to the introduction of alginate, the migration stability of Alg-2959 in the hydrogel networks is significantly improved compared with Irgacure2959. These results indicate the great potential of Alg-2959 in preparing biocompatible and resilient photopolymers.
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