Polymer Nanospheres with Hydrophobic Surface Groups as Supramolecular Building Blocks Produced by Aqueous PISA.
A robust and straightforward synthesis of waterborne polymer nanospheres bearing the supramolecular association unit dialkoxynapthalene at their surface is presented using polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). A RAFT agent bearing this unit is first employed to produce poly(acrylic acid) chains, which are then chain-extended with styrene (S) to spontaneously form the nano-objects via RAFT aqueous emulsion polymerization. The particular challenge posed by the dialkoxynapthalene hydrophobicity can be overcome by the use of PISA and the deprotonation of the poly(acrylic acid). At pH = 7, very homogeneous latexes are obtained. The particle diameters can be tuned from 36 to 105 nm (with a narrow particle size distribution) by varying the molar mass of the PS block. The surface accessibility of the dialkoxynapthalene moieties is demonstrated by complexation with the complementary host cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT4+ · Cl- ), highlighting the potential of the nanospheres to act as building blocks for responsive supramolecular structures.
['Ebeling|Bastian|B|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6531-5570', 'Belal|Khaled|K|', 'Stoffelbach|François|F|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6215-2825', 'Woisel|Patrice|P|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5860-5107', 'Lansalot|Muriel|M|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9010-6746', "D'Agosto|Franck|F|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2730-869X"]
D000180:Acrylic Resins D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions D007840:Latex D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission D008956:Models, Chemical D015394:Molecular Structure D054118:Nanospheres D009281:Naphthalenes D010316:Particle Size D058105:Polymerization D011108:Polymers D013499:Surface Properties
polymerization-induced self-assembly emulsion polymerization RAFT polymerization polymer nanoparticles supramolecular assembly