Reactions Occurring during the Melt Mixing of Nylon 6 and Oxazoline−Cyclophosphazene Units
Specific reactions of amino and carboxyl end groups of Nylon 6 with the reactive oxazoline groups belonging to a cyclophosphazene compound (referred as CP20XA) were carried out at 240 °C for different times, under inert atmosphere. Ny6 polymers terminated with one specific reactive chain end (-COOH or NH2) were reacted with different amounts of CP20XA to study the kinetic order of the reactions. All Ny6-CP20XA reacted products soluble in trifluoroethanol (TFE) were well characterized by MALDI-TOF MS, FT-IR and ( 1H and 13C) NMR techniques. The MALDI-TOF results show that the oxazoline rings react with the carboxyl chain ends of Ny6 following second-order kinetics. The reactions with amino c…
Hyaluronan-coated polybenzofulvene brushes as biomimetic materials
Hyaluronic acid (HA) forms pericellular coats in many cell types that are involved in the early stages of cell adhesion by interacting with the CD44 receptor. Based on the largely recognized overexpression of the CD44 receptor in tumor tissues, a polybenzofulvene molecular brush has been enveloped into hyaluronan shells to obtain a tri-component polymer brush (TCPB) composed of intrinsically fluorescent backbones bearing nona(ethylene glycol) arms terminated with low molecular weight HA macromolecules. The nanoaggregates obtained in TCPB water dispersions were characterized on the basis of dimensions, zeta potential, and in vitro cell toxicity. This biomimetic multifunctional material beari…
A Click Chemistry-Based “Grafting Through” Approach to the Synthesis of a Biorelevant Polymer Brush
A new biorelevant polymer brush showing a polybenzofulvene backbone was synthesized by a ‘‘grafting through’’ approach based on click chemistry and spontaneous polymerization reactions. The easy polymerization of the relatively complex monomer (6-MOEG-9-TM-BF3k) suggests the existence of a particularly efficient recognition process capable of pre-organizing the monomer molecules for the spontaneous polymerization. 13C-NMR spectroscopy as well as UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy suggested for poly-6-MOEG-9-TM-BF3k the features of a vinyl (1,2) p-stacked polymer. The new polybenzofulvene derivative was found to interact with water at room temperature to give clear water solutions, but TEM…
Hyaluronan-Based Graft Copolymers Bearing Aggregation-Induced Emission Flurogens
In order to develop a technology platform based on two natural compounds from biorenewable resources, a short series of hyaluronan (HA) copolymers grafted with propargylated ferulic acid (HA-FA-Pg) were designed and synthesized to show different grafting degree values and their optical properties were characterized in comparison with reference compounds containing the same ferulate fluorophore. Interestingly, these studies revealed that the ferulate fluorophore was quite sensitive to the restriction of intramolecular motion and its introduction into the rigid HA backbone, as in HA-FA-Pg graft copolymers, led to higher photoluminescence quantum yield values than those obtained with the isola…
Combining Spontaneous Polymerization and Click Reactions for the Synthesis of Polymer Brushes: A "Grafting Onto" Approach
Two novel benzofulvene monomers bearing propargyl or allyl groups have been synthesized by means of readily accessible reactions, and were found to polymerize spontaneously by solvent removal, in the apparent absence of catalysts or initiators, to give the corresponding polybenzofulvene derivatives bearing clickable propargyl or allyl moieties. The clickable propargyl and allyl groups were exploited in appropriate click reactions to develop a powerful and versatile "grafting onto" synthetic methodology for obtaining tailored polymer brushes.