Synthesis of Supramolecular Nanocapsules Based on Threading of Multiple Cyclodextrins over Polymers on Gold Nanoparticles

摘要

Polymer nanocapsules, or hollow polymer nanospheres, have attracted increasing interest because of their great potential for applications in chemistry, materials, biomedicine, and biotechnology. Currently, methods towards the production of polymeric nanocapsules include cross-linking of self-assembled block copolymer micelles, emulsion polymeri-zation, dendrimer modification, and layer-by-layer adsorption of polyelectrolytes or polymerization on spherical nanoparticles as templates. Multiple α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) rings were found to thread over a polymer such as poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) and form a supramolecular polyrotaxane structure, which has inspired the development of interesting nanostructures such as molecular tubes, as well as various supramolecular materials for electronics and biomaterials applications. Formation of polyrotaxane films on gold surfaces was also detected using surface plasmon spectroscopy.