Design, synthesis and RAFT polymerisation of a quinoline-based monomer for use in metal-binding composite microfibers

Abstract

Metal-binding polymer fibres have attracted major attention for diverse applications in membranes for metal sequestration from waste waters, non-woven wound dressings, matrices for photocatalysis, and many more. This paper reports the design and synthesis of an 8-hydroxyquinoline-based zinc-binding styrenic monomer, QuiBoc. Its subsequent polymerisation by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) yielded welldefined polymers, PQuiBoc, of controllable molar masses (6 and 12 kg/mol) with low dispersities (Ð, Mw/Mn < 1.3). Protected (PQuiBoc) and deprotected (PQuiOH) derivatives of the polymer exhibited high zinc-binding capacity, as determined by semi-quantitative SEM/EDXA analyses, allowing the electrospinning of microfibres from a PQuiBoc/polystyrene (PS) blend without the need for removal of the protecting group. Simple "dip-coating" of the fibrous mats into ZnO suspensions showed that PQuiBoc/PS microfibres with only 20% PQuiBoc content had almost three-fold higher loadings of ZnO (29%) in comparison to neat PS microfibres (11%).

A comprehensive review of electrospinning block copolymers

“…So far, this technique has been widely used to construct nanofibres for sensors, 13 filtration, 14 drug delivery, 15 and tissue engineering. 16 A variety of natural and synthetic polymers have been electrospun into nanofibres and nonwoven mats, such as collagen, 17 gelatin, 18 silk fibroin, 19 PLA, [20][21][22] cellulose derivatives 23 , polyurethanes, 24 polystyrenics, 25,26 and so on.…”

A method for producing conductive graphene biopolymer nanofibrous fabrics by exploitation of an ionic liquid dispersant in electrospinning

“…In parallel, biopolymeric nanofibrous fabrics can deliver superior performance in terms of functionality and degradability due to their high surface area-to-volume ratio. Electrospinning has been shown to be a versatile method for fabricating nanofibers from a wide range of polymers, allowing the facile incorporation of additives, such as drugs, nanoparticles or nanofillers to produce hybrid nanofibrous materials for a wide range of applications (e.g.as therapeutic, protective, electrical or sensing materials) [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Developing functionalized polymer materials such as conductive nanofibers from abundant and biodegradable biopolymers is more challenging and has attracted an increasing amount of attention for the benefit of energy utilization and the environment [1].…”