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Cucurbit[8]uril directed stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymer brushes for dynamic surface engineering.


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Authors

Hu, Chi 
Tian, Feng 
Zheng, Yu 
Tan, Cindy Soo Yun 
West, Kevin R 

Abstract

In situ modification of surfaces with thin layers of polymers is of growing interest as adjustment of surface properties can be made on demand. We present herein a supramolecular 'grafting to' polymer brush via the recognition of surface-bound cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) rotaxanes towards end-functionalised polyethylene glycol (PEG). This dynamic supramolecular method represents advantages over traditional approaches, which employ covalent bond formation in the 'grafting to' process. Brush properties can be easily modified post-preparation by exchanging the polymers with small molecules in a controlled, reversible manner. Including both redox- and light-responsive guests in a single rotaxane entity, the CB[8]-mediated preparation of the polymer brush offers unique opportunities to switch the brush composition efficiently. While the PEG brushes are well hydrated in a good solvent (water) and stretch away from the surface, they collapse in a poor solvent (toluene), leading to the formation of a dense layer on the surface. This collapsed conformation protects the heteroternary complexes of CB[8]-rotaxane from dissociation and maintains the attachment of polymers on the surface.

Description

This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/SC/C5SC01496D#!divAbstract.

Keywords

3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, 3405 Organic Chemistry, 34 Chemical Sciences

Journal Title

Chem Sci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-6520
2041-6539

Volume Title

6

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Sponsorship
European Research Council (240629)
C. Hu is grateful to BP for supporting this work and Hughes Hall College Cambridge for a student scholarship. Dr F. Tian thanks CSC Cambridge Scholarship and Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship. Dr Y. Zheng is grateful for an ERC starting investigator grant (ASPiRe 240629) for financial support. C. S. Y. Tan thanks Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education of Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) of Malaysia for student scholarship.