TY - JOUR
T1 - Flower-like colloidal particles through precipitation polymerization of redox responsive liquid crystals
AU - Liu, Xiaohong
AU - Moradi, Mohammad
AU - Bus, A.B.P. (Tom)
AU - Debije, Michael G.
AU - Bon, Stefan A.F.
AU - Heuts, J.P.A. (Hans)
AU - Schenning, Albert P.H.J.
PY - 2021/12/20
Y1 - 2021/12/20
N2 - We report on the synthesis of monodisperse, flower-like, liquid crystalline (LC) polymer particles by precipitation polymerization of a LC mixture consisting of benzoic acid-functionalized acrylates and disulfide-functionalized diacrylates. Introduction of a minor amount of redox-responsive disulfide-functionalized diacrylates (≤10 wt %) induced the formation of flower-like shapes. The shape of the particles can be tuned from flower- to disk-like to spherical by elevating the polymerization temperature. The solvent environment also has a pronounced effect on the particle size. Time-resolved TEM reveals that the final particle morphology was formed in the early stages of the polymerization and that subsequent polymerization resulted in continued particle growth without affecting the morphology. Finally, the degradation of the particles under reducing conditions was much faster for flower-like particles than for spherical particles, likely a result of their higher surface-to-volume ratio.
AB - We report on the synthesis of monodisperse, flower-like, liquid crystalline (LC) polymer particles by precipitation polymerization of a LC mixture consisting of benzoic acid-functionalized acrylates and disulfide-functionalized diacrylates. Introduction of a minor amount of redox-responsive disulfide-functionalized diacrylates (≤10 wt %) induced the formation of flower-like shapes. The shape of the particles can be tuned from flower- to disk-like to spherical by elevating the polymerization temperature. The solvent environment also has a pronounced effect on the particle size. Time-resolved TEM reveals that the final particle morphology was formed in the early stages of the polymerization and that subsequent polymerization resulted in continued particle growth without affecting the morphology. Finally, the degradation of the particles under reducing conditions was much faster for flower-like particles than for spherical particles, likely a result of their higher surface-to-volume ratio.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119050087&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/anie.202111521
DO - 10.1002/anie.202111521
M3 - Article
C2 - 34672077
SN - 0570-0833
VL - 60
SP - 27026
EP - 27030
JO - Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
JF - Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
IS - 52
ER -