Emulsion polymerization has been extensively used for decades. The most common example is spherical latex. However, the non-uniform size distribution of small nanoparticles (&lt; 50nm) and non-spherical structures remain challenging. Herein, we demonstrate that well-defined lipid discoidal bicelles, composed of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1'-rac-glycerol), can be a template to synthesize hydrophobic polymer rings with a controllable dimension. Hydrophobic monomers (e.g., styrene) initially participates in both planar and rim but the majority of the polymers (e.g., polystyrene) are found at the rim based on very small-angle neutron scattering and differential scanning calorimetry, indicating the formation of well-defined and controllable polymer nano-rings. This facile synthesis is easily accessible and can serve as a generalized template for hydrophobic monomers to generate functional nano-rings, which can be the building blocks for future applications.

Controllable polymer nano-ring synthesized via a lipid self-assembled template

ACS Spring 2022

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