Premium
Synthesis of Polymer Single‐Chain Nanoparticle with High Compactness in Cosolvent Condition: A Computer Simulation Study
Author(s) -
Zhang YueYuan,
Jia XiangMeng,
Shi Rui,
Li ShuJia,
Zhao Huanyu,
Qian HuJun,
Lu ZhongYuan
Publication year - 2020
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.201900655
Subject(s) - compact space , single chain , polymer , chain (unit) , nanoparticle , intramolecular force , solvent , materials science , monomer , work (physics) , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , physics , composite material , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , mathematics , astronomy , pure mathematics , antibody , engineering , immunology , biology
Polymeric single‐chain nanoparticles (SCNPs) are soft nano‐objects synthesized by intramolecular crosslinking of isolated single polymer chains. Syntheses of such SCNPs usually need to be performed in a dilute solution. In such a condition, the bonding probability of the two active crosslinking units at a short contour distance along the chain backbone is much higher than those which are far away from each other. Such a reaction condition often results in local spheroidization and, therefore, the formation of loosely packed structures. How to inhibit the local spheroidization and improve the compactness of SCNPs is thus a major challenge for the syntheses of SCNPs. In this study, computer simulations are performed and the fact that a precollapse of the polymer chain conformation in a cosolvent condition can largely improve the probability of the crosslinking reactions at large contour distances is demonstrated, favoring the formations of closely packed globular structures. As a result, the formed SCNPs can be more spherical and have higher compactness than those fabricated in ultradilute good solvent solution in a conventional way. It is believed this simulation work can provide a insight into the effective syntheses of SCNPs with spherical conformations and high compactness.