Template-Free Synthesis and in Situ Functionalization of Nanocapsules

摘要

A single component, multifunctional resorcinarene thiol-ene monomer, resorcinarene tetra alkene tetra thiol (RTATT), has been used as a photopolymerizable building block, for the synthesis of hollow nanocapsules, and other morphologically distinct polymeric architectures. Photopolymerization of RTATT in chloroform resulted in the direct formation of nanocapsules, in the absence of any template or preorganization. We show that the polymerization media plays a crucial role in determining the polymer morphology, as a variety of architectures, like lattices, fibrous networks, and nanoparticles were produced by varying the solvent. Further, we have developed a one-pot, two-stage method for the synthesis and in situ functionalization of resorcinarene nanocapsules.