Engineered polymer nanoparticles play an important role in the advancement of emerging technologies for industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and biological sectors. Exemplary applications of engineered nanoparticles in these areas include improved agricultural production and crop protection, delivery of advanced therapeutics, and bioimaging/biosensing platforms. Miniemulsion polymerizations provide well-studied synthetic routes to polymer nanomaterials and are particularly suitable for photopolymerization. Monomer droplets ranging in size from 50-500 nm are achieved by application of high shear mixing – typically either ultrasonic processing or high-pressure homogenization – and subsequently serve as discrete nanoreactors for the formation of polymer nanoparticles upon exposure to UV light. This presentation will focus on recent efforts in the Patton Research Group that employ thiol-X photopolymerization in miniemulsion as a simple synthetic route to functional polythioether nanoparticles for the delivery of natural antimicrobial oils.

Functional materials via thiol-X photopolymerization in dispersed phase

251st National Meeting (2016)

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