Towards Chiral Colloids from Isotropic Spheres

Abstract

This research describes the synthesis of photo-crosslinkable colloids in aqueous media. Colloidal polymeric particles are ?rst obtained via emulsion polymerization of polystyrene. After the immobilization of a brominated-shell onto the polymeric particles, Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (SI-ATRP) is employed to graft brushes from the colloids. Coumarin molecules, which can reversibly and covalently cross-link upon illumination with UV light, are subsequently attached to the grafted polymers via click chemistry. Herein, two approaches using the azide-alkyne click reaction are explored to functionalize 'hairy' colloids with coumarin. The resulting coumarin-functionalized colloids are used to prepare free-standing supracolloidal assemblies, including chiral colloids, by means of spatial confinement imposed by hollow supramolecular microtubes. Preliminary experiments show promising results in colloidal science, since colloidal chiral structures can be prepared using simple isotropic colloids as building blocks.