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CO 2 ‐Breathing Induced Reversible Activation of Mechanophore within Microgels
Author(s) -
Li Meng,
Lei Lei,
Zhang Qi,
Zhu Shiping
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201600119
Subject(s) - spiropyran , merocyanine , materials science , swelling , methacrylate , monomer , polymerization , polymer chemistry , polymer , photochemistry , chemical engineering , photochromism , chemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , engineering
In this work, CO 2 ‐breathing induced reversible activation of mechanophore within microgels is reported. The microgels are prepared through soap‐free emulsion polymerization of CO 2 ‐switchable monomer 2‐(diethylamino)ethyl‐methacrylate, using spiropyran (SP) based mechanophore MA‐SP‐MA as cross‐linker. The microgels can be swollen by CO 2 aeration. The swelling of microgels activates the SP mechanophore into merocyanine, causing distinguished color and fluorescence change. Moreover, these transitions are highly reversible, and the initial states of microgels can be easily recovered by “washing off” CO 2 with N 2 . The present contribution represents the first example of CO 2 ‐breathing activation of mechanophore within microgels.