Affiliation:
1. Centro de Física de Materiales (CSIC—UPV/EHU)—Materials Physics Center MPC P° Manuel de Lardizabal 5 E-20018 Donostia Spain
2. IKERBASQUE—Basque Foundation for Science Plaza Euskadi 5 E-48009 Bilbao Spain
3. Departamento de Polímeros y Materiales Avanzados: Física Química y Tecnología. University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) PO Box 1072 E-20800 Donostia Spain
Abstract
AbstractWe perform the conversion of a commodity plastic of common use in pipes, window frames, medical devices, flexible hoses, etc. like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to single‐chain nanoparticles (SCNPs). SCNPs are versatile, protein‐mimetic soft nano‐objects of growing interest for catalysis, sensing, and nanomedicine, among other uses. We demonstrate that the metamorphosis process ‐as induced through metal‐free click chemistry‐ leads to well‐defined, uniform SCNPs that are stable during storage in the solid state for months. All the conversion process (from PVC isolation to PVC‐SCNPs synthesis) can be run in a green, dipolar aprotic solvent and involving, when required, a simple mixture of ethanol and water (1/1 vol.) as non‐solvent. The resulting PVC‐SCNPs are investigated as recyclable, metalloenzyme‐mimetic catalysts for several representative Cu(II)‐catalyzed organic reactions. The method could be valid for the metamorphosis and valorization of other commodity plastics in which it is feasible to install azide functional groups in their linear polymer chains.
Funder
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Eusko Jaurlaritza
Subject
General Chemistry,Catalysis