Department of NanoEngineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2021 Dec 6;60(50):26357-26362. doi: 10.1002/anie.202110829. Epub 2021 Nov 5.
Polymer nanocapsules have demonstrated significant value in materials science and biomedical technology, but require complicated and time-consuming synthetic steps. We report here the facile synthesis of monodisperse polymer nanocapsules via a redox-mediated kinetic strategy from two simple molecules: dopamine and benzene-1,4-dithiol (BDT). Specifically, BDT forms core templates and modulates the oxidation kinetics of dopamine into polydopamine (PDA) shells. These uniform nanoparticles can be tuned between ≈70 and 200 nm because the core diameter directly depends on BDT while the shell thickness depends on dopamine. The supramolecular core can then rapidly disassemble in organic solvents to produce PDA nanocapsules. Such nanocapsules exhibit enhanced physicochemical performance (e.g., loading capacity, photothermal transduction, and anti-oxidation) versus their solid counterparts. Particularly, this method enables a straightforward encapsulation of functional nanoparticles providing opportunities for designing complex nanostructures such as yolk-shell nanoparticles.
聚合物纳米胶囊在材料科学和生物医学技术方面具有重要价值，但需要复杂且耗时的合成步骤。我们在此报告了一种简便的合成方法，通过氧化还原介导的动力学策略，从两种简单的分子：多巴胺和苯-1,4-二硫醇（BDT）合成单分散聚合物纳米胶囊。具体而言，BDT 形成核模板，并调节多巴胺的氧化动力学，形成聚多巴胺（PDA）壳。这些均匀的纳米颗粒可以在 ≈70 到 200nm 之间进行调节，因为核直径直接取决于 BDT，而壳厚度取决于多巴胺。超分子核随后可以在有机溶剂中迅速解体，生成 PDA 纳米胶囊。与它们的固体对应物相比，这些纳米胶囊表现出增强的物理化学性能（例如，载药能力、光热转化和抗氧化性）。特别是，这种方法可以实现功能纳米颗粒的直接封装，为设计复杂的纳米结构（如蛋黄壳纳米颗粒）提供了机会。
