Highly-branched amphiphilic organometallic dendronized diblock copolymer: ROMP synthesis, self-assembly and long-term Au and Ag nanoparticle stabilizer for high-efficiency catalysis

Abstract

Dendronized polymers (DPs) are an increasing field at the interfaces between organic chemistry, polymer synthesis, and materials science, and in particular DPs are expected to provide designed applications as nanoparticle (NP) sensors and catalysts. Herein, we report a new highly-branched amphiphilic dendronized diblock copolymer containing bulky hydrophilic triethylene glycol (TEG) and hydrophobic ferrocenyl (Fc) groups via the living and controlled ring-opening metathesis polymerization. The amphiphilicity drives the self-assembly of the resulting DP into spherical nanoscale micelles in water using THF or DMSO as cosolvents. AuNPs and AgNPs of various sizes depending on the presence of NaBH4 are successfully prepared using the DP as stabilizers or reductants and used as excellent catalysts for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol by NaBH4. The obtained AuNPs about 2.1 nm show TONs up to 25 000 and TOFs of 26 400 h−1 and remain stable and efficient for this catalysis after two months.