Selecting water-alcohol mixed solvent for synthesis of polydopamine nano-spheres using solubility parameter.

The solvent plays an important role in a given chemical reaction. Since most reaction in nature occur in the mixed-solvent systems, a comprehensive principle for solvent optimization was required. By calculating the Hansen solubility parameters (HSP) distance Ra, we designed a model experiment to explore the influence of mixed solvents on the chemical synthesis. The synthesis of polydopamine (PDA) in the water-alcohol system was chosen as model. As predicted, the well-dispersed PDA spheres were obtained in selected solvents with smaller Ra values: methanol/water, ethanol/water and 2-propanol/water. In addition, the mixed solvent with smaller Ra values gave a higher conversion of dopamine. The strategy for mixed solvent selection is might be useful to choose optimal reaction media for efficient chemical synthesis.