Rational design of stimuli‐responsive magnetic polymer hybrid (nano)materials

Abstract

Combining organic and inorganic materials is a fascinating strategy to produce hybrid materials that combine the advantages of both polymeric and inorganic materials. Among the various types of organic–inorganic hybrids, stimuli‐responsive magnetic polymer hybrids (RMPHs) are particularly promising materials for a wide variety of applications. While the magnetic properties are generally provided by the presence of magnetic nanoparticles, such as iron oxide nanoparticles, the polymeric compound brings the stimuli‐responsiveness, e.g. responsiveness to pH, temperature, redox reaction or irradiation. Furthermore, as the chemical structure and architecture of the polymeric materials are diverse and easily tunable, stimuli‐RMPHs have found applications in various domains, including catalysis, biotechnology, (bio)imaging and cancer therapy. Given the importance of the hybrids' shape and morphology for the targeted application, this review presents the possible synthetic strategies to rationally design stimuli‐RMPHs of various morphologies ranging from nanometric core–shell structures to nanogels, microgels and membranes. © 2023 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Industrial Chemistry.

Special issue: visionary polymer research for a better world. The professor R.G. ‘Dick’ Jones commemorative issue

“…His personality explains the great breadth and reach of the papers that we have in this series 6–15 . I’d like to mention some of these briefly, as all are excellent and so very well speak for themselves.…”

“…His personality explains the great breadth and reach of the papers that we have in this series. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] I'd like to mention some of these briefly, as all are excellent and so very well speak for themselves. The paper by Graeme Moad reflects with gentle humour on how he, Dick and Aubrey Jenkins, a prior Chair of SPT, struggled with the development of a clear terminology for specific types of controlled chain polymerizations, and more particularly with the term reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP).…”

“…A great piece of work by Brian Tighe, Paul Topham and colleagues on poly(lactide)s initiated with Sn(OnBu) 2 , reducing the need for tin 12 would have been enjoyed by Dick given his appreciation of their work and his attachment to Aston as its external examiner for some years, and the excellent paper by Carmen Schulz on click chemistry with polyacrylates, 13 a good friend for whom Dick held in extremely high regard. The excellent papers by Iseli Nantes and her colleagues on the use of nanostructured ferric oxide and photochemistry, and Fanny Coumes and colleagues on magnetic polymer hybrid materials 14 speak to Dick's enjoyment of photochemistry in his PhD and mixed inorganic systems 15 …”