Semi-crystalline poly(ε-caprolactone) brushes on gold substrate via “grafting from” method: New insights with AFM characterization

Polyester Brush Coatings for Circularity: Grafting, Degradation, and Repeated Growth

Polymer brushes are widely used as versatile surface modifications. However, most of them are designed to be long-lasting by using nonbiodegradable materials. This generates additional plastic waste and hinders the reusability of substrates. To address this, we present a synthetic strategy for grafting degradable polymer brushes via organocatalytic surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization (SI-ROP) from stable PGMA-based macroinitiators. This yields polyester brush coatings (up to 50 nm in thickness) that hydrolyze with controlled patterns and can be regrown on the same substrate after degradation. We chose polyesters of different hydrolytic stability and degradation mechanism, i.e., poly(lactic acid) (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which are grown from poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA)-based macroinitiators for strong surface binding and initiating site reuse. Brush degradation is monitored via thickness changes in pH-varied buffer solutions and seawater with PHB brushes showing rapid degradation in all solutions. PLA and PCL brushes show higher stability in solutions of up to pH 8, while all coatings fully degrade after 14 days in seawater. These brushes offer surface modifications with well-defined degradation patterns that can be regrown after degradation, making them an interesting alternative to (meth)acrylate-based, nondegradable polymers brushes.

Nanoformulation-by-design: an experimental and molecular dynamics study for polymer coated drug nanoparticles

Experimental studies of drug–polymer nanoparticle formation combined with molecular dynamics simulations provide atomistic explanations for the high drug loadings obtained.

Recent Progress in Macromolecule-Anchored Hybrid Gold Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), with elegant thermal, optical, or chemical properties due to quantum size effects, may serve as unique species for therapeutic or diagnostic applications. It is worth mentioning that their small size also results in high surface activity, leading to significantly impaired stability, which greatly hinders their biomedical utilizations. To overcome this problem, various types of macromolecular materials are utilized to anchor AuNPs so as to achieve advanced synergistic effect by dispersing, protecting, and stabilizing the AuNPs in polymeric-Au hybrid self-assemblies. In this review, the most recent development of polymer-AuNP hybrid systems, including AuNPs@polymeric nanoparticles, AuNPs@polymeric micelle, AuNPs@polymeric film, and AuNPs@polymeric hydrogel are discussed with respect to their different synthetic strategies. These sophisticated materials with diverse functions, oriented toward biomedical applications, are further summarized into several active domains in the areas of drug delivery, gene delivery, photothermal therapy, antibacterials, bioimaging, etc. Finally, the possible approaches for future design of multifunctional polymer-AuNP hybrids by combining hybrid chemistry with biological interface science are proposed.

Degradable Polycaprolactone and Polylactide Homopolymer and Block Copolymer Brushes Prepared by Surface-Initiated Polymerization with Triazabicyclodecene and Zirconium Catalysts

Surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization (SI-ROP) of polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactide (PLA) polymer brushes with controlled degradation rates were prepared on oxide substrates. PCL brushes were polymerized from hydroxyl-terminated monolayers utilizing triazabicyclodecene (TBD) as the polymerization catalyst. A consistent brush thickness of 40 nm could be achieved with a reproducible unique crystalline morphology. The organocatalyzed PCL brushes were chain extended using lactide in the presence of zirconium n-butoxide to successfully grow PCL/PLA block copolymer (PCL-b-PLA) brushes with a final thickness of 55 nm. The degradation properties of "grafted from" PCL brush and the PCL-b-PLA brush were compared to "grafted to" PCL brushes, and we observed that the brush density plays a major role in degradation kinetics. Solutions of methanol/water at pH 14 were used to better solvate the brushes and increase the kinetics of degradation. This framework enables a control of degradation that allows for the precise removal of these coatings.

Facile synthesis of well-defined linear-comb highly branched poly(ε-caprolactone) using hydroxylated polybutadiene and organocatalyst

A simple method was proposed to synthesize well-defined linear-comb highly branched poly(ε-caprolactone) with high molecular weight and narrow polydispersity.

Facile fabrication of polycaprolactone/h-MoO3 nanocomposites and their structural, optical and electrical properties

Hexagonal molybdenum oxide (h-MoO₃) nanocrystals with a flower-like hierarchical structure were successfully incorporated into polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix by a simple solution casting technique.

Facile synthesis of gold core-polymer shell responsive particles

The free adsorption of an end-functionalised weak polybase, poly dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (pDMAEMA), on the surface of colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a route to produce a responsive core-shell nanoparticle is explored here. Optimal conditions for the physisorption of the polymeric chains onto the colloidal nanoparticles are explored. A dense coverage is facilitated by rapidly mixing the well solvated pH responsive homopolymer, at low pH, into a relatively poor solvent environment, at higher pH, containing a stable dispersion of charge-stabilised gold nanoparticles. The rapid pH change causes the polymer chains to concurrently collapse and adsorb onto the gold nanoparticles. In order to achieve sterically stable, monodisperse and responsive core shell nanoparticles, a crucial factor is the pH difference of the systems prior to their mixing. Once adsorbed, end-functional thiol groups on the adsorbed polymer chains can form more permanent covalent attachments with the core particles. Dynamic light scattering coupled with mobility data of pH titration experiments show that the core-shell particles exhibit a responsive character consistent with the observed potentiometric titration data of the polymer. The same particles demonstrate reversible aggregation when cycled between pH extremes. This is confirmed by shifts in the SPR peak of the corresponding UV-Vis absorption profile. The ease and flexibility of this strategy for core-shell particle production, coupled with the stability and responsiveness of the product, make this a promising colloidal coating mechanism.