To mimic the structure and functions of enzymes, methods have been employed to reduce the conformational freedom of single polymer chains containing catalytic sites by connecting pendant subunits to promote chain collapse. Previous work with these systems has introduced both transition metal catalysts and organocatalysts within single-chain polymers. Recently, organic photoredox catalysts have been incorporated as confined catalytically-active sites, leading to accelerated catalysis. Herein, the progress toward the synthesis of a novel ruthenium-containing polymer nanoparticle will be disclosed. A functionalized methacrylate monomer has been polymerized through reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to synthesize a poly(methyl methacrylate) with side-chain pendant ruthenium tris-bipyridine complexes and crosslinkable units. The polymers were characterized by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) and NMR spectroscopy. Additionally, the photophysical properties were characterized by UV-vis absorption and emission spectroscopy.

Progress Toward the Synthesis and Characterization of a Ruthenium-containing Single-Chain Polymer Nanoparticle

ACS Spring 2022

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