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Facile Access to Completely Deuterated Single‐Chain Nanoparticles Enabled by Intramolecular Azide Photodecomposition
Author(s) -
RubioCervilla Jon,
Malo de Molina Paula,
RoblesHernández Beatriz,
Arbe Arantxa,
Moreno Angel J.,
Alegría Angel,
Colmenero Juan,
Pomposo José A.
Publication year - 2019
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.201900046
Subject(s) - azide , radius of gyration , materials science , intramolecular force , nanoparticle , polymer chemistry , polymer , chain transfer , copolymer , polymerization , monomer , molar mass , chemical engineering , chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , radical polymerization , composite material , engineering
Access to completely deuterated single‐chain nanoparticles (dSCNPs) has remained an unresolved issue. Herein, the first facile and efficient procedure to produce dSCNPs is reported, which comprises: i) the use of commercially available perdeuterated cyclic ether monomers as starting reagents, ii) a ring‐opening copolymerization process performed in bulk to produce a neat dSCNP precursor, iii) a standard azidation reaction to decorate this precursor with azide moieties, and iv) a facile intramolecular azide photodecomposition step carried out under UV irradiation at high dilution providing with highly valuable, completely deuterated soft nano‐objects from the precursor. dSCNPs are used to investigate by means of neutron‐scattering measurements the form factor (radius of gyration, scaling exponent) of polyethylene oxide (PEO) chains in nanocomposites with different amounts of dSCNPs. Moreover, to illustrate the possibilities offered by the synthetic route disclosed in this communication for potential applications, the significant reduction in viscosity observed in a pure melt of polyether‐based single‐chain nanoparticles when compared to a melt of the corresponding linear polymer chains is shown.