The photochemical and electrochemical investigations of commercially available, safe, and cheap fluorescent brighteners, namely, triazinylstilbene (commercial name: fluorescent brightener 28) and 2,5‐bis(5‐tert‐butyl‐benzoxazol‐2‐yl)thiophene, as well as their original use as photoinitiators of polymerization upon light emitting diode (LED) irradiation are reported. Remarkably, their excellent near‐UV–visible absorption properties combined with outstanding fluorescent properties allow them to act as high‐performance photoinitiators when used in combination with diaryliodonium salt. These two‐component photoinitiating systems can be employed for free radical polymerizations of acrylate. In addition, this brightener‐initiated photopolymerization is able to overcome oxygen inhibition even upon irradiation with low LED light intensity. The underlying photochemical mechanisms are investigated by electron‐spin resonance‐spin trapping, fluorescence, cyclic voltammetry, and steady‐state photolysis techniques.
The synthesis of a novel photoreactive poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)‐based polymer with caged carbonyl groups is reported. We further demonstrate its use for the on‐demand fabrication of hydrogels. For rapid gelation, a hydrazide‐functionalized PEG is used as the second component for the hydrogel preparation. The photoreactive PEG‐based polymer is designed for controlled cleavage of the protecting groups upon exposure to UV light releases free aldehyde moieties, which readily react with hydrazide groups in situ. This hydrogel system may find applications in controlled release drug delivery applications, when combined with in situ gelation. Furthermore, the possibility of forming gels specifically upon UV irradiation gives an opportunity for 3D fabrication of degradable scaffolds.
Copolymers of 2‐(methacrylamido)glucopyranose (MAG) and methacrylic acid (MAA) are synthesized by RAFT polymerization and then used as templates to prepare glycopolymer‐functionalized Ag nanoclusters (Gly‐Ag NCs) through microwave irradiation. Polymers and the resulting nanoclusters are characterized by NMR, GPC, UV‐Vis, SEM, TEM, AAS and fluorescence spectroscopy. The bio‐activity of the fluorescent Gly‐Ag NCs are further examined using GLUT‐1 over‐expressing cancer cells K562. Gly‐Ag NCs show efficient binding ability toward K562 cells and inhibit the cell viability in a dose dependent manner (IC50 = 0.65 μg mL–1), indicating their potential biological applications for both cancer imaging and targeted cancer therapy.
An ultraviolet (UV)‐cleavable bottlebrush polymer is synthesized using the “grafting‐onto” strategy by combining living radical polymerization and copper‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). In this approach, reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization is used to prepare a poly(methylacrylate) backbone with azide side groups, while atom transfer radical polymerization is employed to prepare polystyrene (PS) side chains end‐functionalized with o‐nitrobenzyl (UV‐cleavable) propargyl groups. CuAAC is then used to graft PS side chains onto the polymer backbone, producing the corresponding bottlebrush polymers with UV‐cleavable PS side chains. The formation of the bottlebrush polymer is characterized by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The cleavage behavior of the bottlebrush polymer is monitored in tetrahydrofuran solution under UV irradiation by GPC and viscosity measurements.
A facile and versatile approach to constructing colorless surface coatings based on green tea polyphenols is reported, which can further act as a photoinitiating layer to initiate radical polymerization. These colorless green tea polyphenol coatings are capable of successfully photografting polymer brushes, and the resulting polymer brush patterns show spatial shape adjustability by masked UV irradiation. Both surface modifications and photografted polymer brushes do not alter the original color of the substrates. This method could be promising for the development of surface modifications.
A facile and universal method is presented for the preparation of polymer brushes on amorphous TiO2 film. Homogeneous and stable poly(methyl methacrylate), polystyrene, poly(4‐vinylpyridine), and poly(N‐vinyl imidazole) (PNVI) brushes up to 550 nm are directly created onto TiO2 via UV‐induced photopolymerization of corresponding monomers. Kinetic studies reveal a linear increase in thickness with the polymerization time. Characterization of the resulting polymer brushes by FTIR spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicates an efficient UV‐grafting reaction. Finally, we have demonstrated the possibility in converting the PNVI brushes to poly(vinyl imidazolium bromide), i.e., poly(ionic liquid) brushes by polymer–analogous reactions.
A novel one‐component type II polymeric photoinitiator, poly(vinyl alcohol)–thioxanthone (PVA–TX), is synthesized by a simple acetalization process and characterized. PVA–TX enables photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate and acrylamide in both organic and aqueous media. Photopolymerization proceeds even in the absence of a co‐initiator since PVA–TX possesses both chromophoric and hydrogen donating sites in the structure.
Here, a novel multi‐stimuli‐responsive fluorescence probe is developed by incorporating spiropyran group into the coumarin‐substituted polydiacetylene (PDA) vesicles. The fluorescence of PDA can be turned on upon heating, and can be quenched upon exposure to UV light irradiation or pH stimuli owing to the fluorescene resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the red‐phase PDA and the open merocyanine (MC) form of spiropyran. Moreover, we have designed and experimentally realized a set of logic gate operations for the first time based on the fluorescence modulation of the designed system upon thermal, photo, and pH stimuli. This novel type of resettable logic gates augur well for practical applications in information storage, optical recording, and sensing in complicated microenvironments.
Emulsion‐templated highly porous polymers (polyHIPEs), containing distinct regions differing in composition, morphology, and/or properties, are prepared by the simultaneous polymerization of two high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) contained within the same mould. The HIPEs are placed together in the mould and subjected to thiol‐acrylate photopolymerization. The resulting polyHIPE material is found to contain two distinct semicircular regions, reflecting the composition of each HIPE. The original interface between the two emulsions becomes a copolymerized band between 100 and 300 μm wide, which is found to be mechanically robust. The separate polyHIPE layers are distinguished from one another by their differing average void diameter, chemical composition, and extent of contraction upon drying.
Various bicolored fluorescent micropatterns are fabricated on a single polymer film by concurrent photobleaching and a photobase generation process. A polymer, bearing anthracene and oxime–urethane groups, is dyed with rhodamine B isothiocyanate after irradiation with 310‐nm UV light. The photochemical reaction of the polymer is monitored by UV, IR absorption, and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. Differently colored fluorescent micropatterns are obtained by selectively exciting each dye moiety. Various bicolored fluorescent micropatterns are observed through varying the excitation wavelength and observation wavelength ranges using a confocal microscope. This bicolored fluorescence patterning method will be useful to apply in photonic/electronic devices.
A new, visible light‐catalyzed, one‐pot and one‐step reaction is successfully employed to design well‐controlled side‐chain functionalized polymers, by the combination of ambient temperature revisible addtion‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and click chemistry. Polymerizations are well controlled in a living way under the irradiation of visible light‐emitting diode (LED) light without photocatalyst and initiator, using the trithiocarbonate agent as iniferter (initiator‐transfer agent‐terminator) agent at ambient temperature. Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), NMR, and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF‐MS) data confirm the successful one‐pot reaction. Compared to the reported zero‐valent metal‐catalyzed one‐pot reaction, the polymerization rate is much faster than that of the click reaction, and the visible light‐catalyzed one‐pot reaction can be freely and easily regulated by turning on and off the light.
This Communication describes a new light‐controlled release system based on molecular recognition of cyclodextrins. Azobenzene (Azo) residue is employed as a photoresponsive guest residue because it can switch the partner from α‐cyclodextrin (αCD) to β‐cyclodextrin (βCD) by irradiation with UV light. Poly(sodium acrylate)s possessing αCD, βCD, and Azo residues (pAαCD, pAβCD, and pAAzo, respectively) are mixed in aqueous solutions to form aggregates through the formation of inclusion complexes of Azo with αCD and/or βCD. A chemical cargo, 1‐pyrenemethylammonium chloride (PyMA), is contained in the aggregates, and its release behavior is investigated by dialysis experiments under UV irradiation. These data indicate that the amount of PyMA released for the pAαCD/pAβCD/pAAzo ternary mixture is approximately three times as high as those for the pAαCD/pAAzo and pAβCD/pAAzo binary mixtures because of the light‐controlled rearrangement of inclusion complexes.
This communication describes photoresponsive gels, prepared using ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), that dissolve upon irradiation with ultraviolet light. Exposure of mixtures of norbornene‐type ROMP monomers and new photoreactive cross‐linkers comprising two norbornene units bound through a chain containing o‐nitrobenzyl esters (NBEs) to well‐known ruthenium carbene catalysts gave cross‐linked polymer networks that swelled in organic solvents or water depending on the structure of the monomer. These gels became homogeneous upon irradiation with UV light, consistent with breaking of the cross‐links through photolysis of the NBE groups. The irradiation time required for homogenization of the gels depended on the cross‐link density and the structure of the photoresponsive cross‐linker.
Cyclic polystyrene (PS) with a pendant coumarin group is prepared by the combination of atom transfer radical polymerization and “click” chemistry. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer process is observed in the fluorescence measurement of coumarin‐containing PS, and cyclic PS exhibits stronger emission than that of its linear precursor. When cyclic PS is irradiated under UV light at λ = 365 nm, 8‐shaped PS is achieved due to the dimerization of pendant coumarin group. Subsequently, 8‐shaped PS can be divided into single macrocycle under UV irradiation at λ = 254 nm via the photocleavage of coumarin dimer. The photoinduced coupling and dissociation are monitored by UV/vis spectra and gel permeation chromatography (GPC).
1,5,7‐Triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec‐5‐ene (TBD)‐catalyzed polycondensation reactions of fatty acid derived dimethyl dicarbamates and diols are introduced as a versatile, non‐isocyanate route to renewable polyurethanes. The key step for the synthesis of dimethyl carbamate monomers from plant‐oil‐derived dicarboxylic acids is based on a sustainable base‐catalyzed Lossen rearrangement. The formed polyurethanes with molecular weights up to 25 kDa are characterized by SEC, DSC, and NMR analysis.
In this paper, an oxygen‐insensitive degradable resist for UV‐nanoimprint is designed, comprising a polycyclic degradable acrylate monomer, 2,10‐diacryloyloxymethyl‐1,4,9,12‐tetraoxaspiro [4.2.4.2] tetradecane (DAMTT), and a multifunctional thiol monomer pentaerythritol tetra(3‐mercaptopropionate) (PETMP). The resist can be quickly UV‐cured in the air atmosphere and achieve a high monomer conversion of over 98%, which greatly reduce the adhesion force between the resist and the soft mold. High conversion, in company with an adequate Young's modulus (about 1 GPa) and an extremely low shrinkage (1.34%), promises high nanoimprint resolution of sub‐50 nm. The cross‐linked resist is able to break into linear molecules in a hot acid solvent. As a result, metallic patterns are fabricated on highly curved surfaces via the lift off process without the assistance of a thermoplastic polymer layer.
In order to improve the stability of polymeric vesicles, supramolecular vesicles are developed via self‐assembly of the inclusion of γ‐cyclodextrin (γ‐CD) and 1‐pyrenemethyl palmitate (Py‐pal). The inclusion has one hydrophilic head and double hydrophobic tails, which looks like the phospholipid. From the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image, it can be observed that the average diameter of supramolecular vesicles is approximately 55 nm and there is a huge cavity in supramolecular vesicles. Due to the photo‐breakable ester of Py‐pal, supramolecular vesicles are broken under UV irradiation. Supramolecular vesicles are used as UV‐responsive drug carriers to release the hydrophilic drug such as doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX•HCl).
Cross‐linked azobenzene liquid‐crystalline polymer films with a poly(oxyethylene) backbone are synthesized by photoinitiated cationic copolymerization. Azobenzene moieties in the film surface toward the light source are simultaneously photoaligned during photopolymerization with unpolarized 436 nm light and thus form a splayed alignment in the whole film. The prepared films show reversible photoinduced bending behavior with opposite bending directions when different surfaces of one film face to ultraviolet light irradiation.
A new approach is reported for the preparation of a graphene–epoxy flexible transparent capacitor obtained by graphene–polymer transfer and UV‐induced bonding. SU8 resin is employed for realizing a well‐adherent, transparent, and flexible supporting layer. The achieved transparent graphene/SU8 membrane presents two distinct surfaces: one homogeneous conductive surface containing a graphene layer and one dielectric surface typical of the epoxy polymer. Two graphene/SU8 layers are bonded together by using an epoxy photocurable formulation based on epoxy resin. The obtained material showed a stable and clear capacitive behavior.
Molecular bottle‐brush functionalized single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with superior dispersibility in water are prepared by a one‐pot synthetic methodology. Elongating the main‐chain and side‐chain length of molecular bottle‐brushes can further increase SWCNT dispersibility. They show significant enhancement of SWCNT dispersibility up to four times higher than those of linear molecular functionalized SWCNTs.
