TY - JOUR A1 - Chandna, Sanjam A1 - Povolotsky, Tatyana L. A1 - Nie, Chuanxiong A1 - Schwartz, Sophia A1 - Wedepohl, Stefanie A1 - Quaas, Elisa A1 - Ludwig, Kai A1 - Boyakova, Yulia A1 - Bhatia, Sumati A1 - Meyer, Klas A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Haag, Rainer A1 - Block, Stephan T1 - Lignin-Based Mucus-Mimicking Antiviral Hydrogels with Enzyme Stability and Tunable Porosity N2 - Mucus is a complex hydrogel that acts as a defensive and protective barrier in various parts of the human body. Therise in the level of viral infections has underscored the importance of advancing research into mucus-mimicking hydrogels for theefficient design of antiviral agents. Herein, we demonstrate the gram-scale synthesis of biocompatible, lignin-based virus-bindinginhibitors that reduce waste and ensure long-term availability. The lignin-based inhibitors are equipped with sulfate moieties, whichare known binding partners for many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and herpes viruses. In addition, cross-linking the synthesizedinhibitors yielded hydrogels that mimicked native mucus concerning surface functionality and rheology. The degree of sulfationexhibits a very strong impact on the mesh size distribution of the hydrogels, which provides a new means to fine-tune the steric andelectrostatic contributions of the virus−hydrogel interaction. This feature strongly impacts the sequestration capability of the lignin-based hydrogels, which is demonstrated by infection inhibition assays involving human herpes simplex virus 1, influenza A viruses,and the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli). These measurements showed a reduction in plaque-forming units (HSV-1) and colony-forming units (E. coli) by more than 4 orders of magnitude, indicating the potent inhibition by the lignin-based hydrogels KW - Lignin functionalization KW - Mucus-mimicking hydrogels PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-625301 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c18519 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) CY - USA AN - OPUS4-62530 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -