Beta cyclodextrin (β-CD) and Hyperbranched polyglycerols (HPG) possess several abilities which motivate their use in functional hard and soft polymeric nanocomposite fabrication in an analogous fashion to the tedious synthesis of dendrimers. Both β-CD and HPG contain surface hydroxyl groups which can be functionalized to serve as sites for crosslinking, atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiation and click-reactions. The goal of this work is to use both starting materials to produce novel and functional hard and soft nanomaterials. In the first project, a pro-mesogenic (liquid crystal-like) molecule is attached to a β-CD block copolymer via click chemistry to produce a 21-arm star-like poly(acrylic acid)-4-isocyano-4’-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)biphenyl polymer (21-β-CD-CNBP). This material can be used as an additive in LC mixtures and act as a nanoreactor for making pro-mesogen-caped nanoparticles. These particles have the potential for improved solubility in liquid crystals and offer a novel route to multi-responsive liquid crystal materials [1]. In the second project, monodisperse (PDI&lt;1.4) samples of HPG are synthesized by ring-opening multi-branching polymerization (ROMBP) yielding samples with 83, 126 and 170 reactive –OH sites per molecule. In the first study, HPG is crosslinked with passive and active materials (disulfide and azo groups) to produce soft, biocompatible, nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 50 to 150 nanometers. The first iteration is a novel photo-crosslinked organic nanoparticle based on HPG-4-bromomethyl benzoyl bromide using UV-induced crosslinking. In the second study, HPG is converted into an ATRP macroinitiator and used to produce diblock and triblock star-like copolymers (HPG-b-PAA-b-PS-Br and HPG-b-PS-b-PAA-b-PS-Br) that will serve as templates for the nucleation of inorganic nanoparticles. Both projects offer routes to producing hard and soft nanocomposites that possess a high degree and variety of surface functionality. With applications from medicine to energy, star-like nanocomposites offer a starting point for many end-uses on an industrial scale and at low costs. 1. Iocozzia, J., et al. RSC Advances, 2014, 4, 50212-50219.

Synthesis and characterization of hard and soft nanocomposites derived from β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) templates

251st National Meeting (2016)

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