Abstract
Building novel functional nanomaterials with a polymer is one of the most dynamic research fields at present. Here, three amphiphilic block copolymers of 8-hydroxyquinoline derivative motifs (MQ) with excellent coordination function were synthesized by Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization (RAFT) polymerization. The coordination micelles were prepared through the self-assembly process, which the MQ motifs were dispersed in the hydrophobic polystyrene (PSt) blocks and hydrophilic Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM)) blocks, respectively. The dual-emission micelles including the intrinsic red light emission of quantum dots (QDs) and the coordination green light emission of Zn2+-MQ complexes were built by introducing the CdSe/ZnS and CdTe/ZnS QDs in the core and shell precisely in the coordination micelles through the coordination-driven self-assembly process. Furthermore, based on the principle of three primary colors that produce white light emission, vinyl carbazole units (Polyvinyl Carbazole, PVK) with blue light emission were introduced into the hydrophilic PNIPAM blocks to construct the white light micelles that possess special multi-emission properties in which the intrinsic red light emission of QDs, the coordination green light of Zn2+-MQ complexes, and the blue light emission of PVK were synergized. The dual and multi-emission hybrid micelles have great application prospects in ratiometric fluorescent probes and biomarkers.
Highlights
Self-assembled nanostructured materials built from block polymers have attracted much attention.Block copolymers can self-assemble into ordered assemblies of various shapes, such as micelles and vesicles, according to the properties and proportions of their components [1,2,3]
(PDMA-b-PS-b-PVBA) triblock copolymer prepared by Zhang [9] were self-assembled into micelles
We prepared three multifunctional amphiphilic block structure macromolecules ligands by Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization (RAFT) polymerization using 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives (MQ) with photoelectric function, isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) with thermosensitivity, and styrene (St) as monomers
Summary
Self-assembled nanostructured materials built from block polymers have attracted much attention. Block copolymers can self-assemble into ordered assemblies of various shapes, such as micelles and vesicles, according to the properties and proportions of their components [1,2,3]. (PDMA-b-PS-b-PVBA) triblock copolymer prepared by Zhang [9] were self-assembled into micelles. The PDMA-b-PS-b-PVBA aggregates prepared by this research group showed morphological changes of vesicles to micelles with increasing temperature (higher than the critical phase transition temperature) [10]. Yuan’s research group [11] used the β-cyclodextrin functionalized Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-Poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PEG-b-PGMA) block copolymer and ferrocene-terminated Polycaprolactone (PCL) to self-assemble micelles through the host and guest recognition interaction, which had electrochemical redox responsiveness
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