Université de Fribourg

Shear stress-responsive polymersome nanoreactors inspired by the marine bioluminescence of dinoflagellates

Rifaie‐Graham, Omar ; Galensowske, Nikolas F. B. ; Dean, Charlie ; Pollard, Jonas ; Balog, Sandor ; Gouveia, Micael G. ; Chami, Mohamed ; Vian, Antoine ; Amstad, Esther ; Lattuada, Marco ; Bruns, Nico

In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, vol. 60, no. 2, p. 904-909

Some marine plankton called dinoflagellates emit light in response to the movement of surrounding water, resulting in a phenomenon called milky seas or sea sparkle. The underlying concept, a shear-stress induced permeabilisation of biocatalytic reaction compartments, is transferred to polymer-based nanoreactors. Amphiphilic block copolymers that carry nucleobases in their hydrophobic block...

Université de Fribourg

One-step ring opening metathesis block-like copolymers and their compositional analysis by a novel retardation technique

Yasir, Mohammad ; Liu, Peng ; Markwart, Jens C. ; Suraeva, Oksana ; Wurm, Frederik R. ; Smart, Jansie ; Lattuada, Marco ; Kilbinger, Andreas F. M.

In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, vol. 59, no. 32, p. 13597-13601

Using a one-step synthetic route for block copolymers avoids the repeated addition of monomers to the polymerization mixture, which can easily lead to contamination and, therefore, to the unwanted termination of chain growth. For this purpose, monomers (M1–M5) with different steric hindrances and different propagation rates are explored. Copolymerization of M1 (propagating rapidly) with M2...

Université de Fribourg

Triggered metal ion release and oxidation: ferrocene as a mechanophore in polymers

Giannantonio, Michela Di ; Ayer, Mathieu A. ; Verde-Sesto, Ester ; Lattuada, Marco ; Weder, Christoph ; Fromm, Katharina M.

In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018, vol. 57, no. 35, p. 11445-11450

The introduction of mechanophores into polymers makes it possible to transduce mechanical forces into chemical reactions that can be used to impart functions such as self‐healing, catalytic activity, and mechanochromic response. Here, an example of mechanically induced metal ion release from a polymer is reported. Ferrocene (Fc) was incorporated as an iron ion releasing mechanophore into...