A nanotumbleweed: breaking away a covalently tethered polymer molecule by noncovalent interactions
1Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
Abstract:
A covalently tethered polymer molecule can spontaneously break away from the surface when polymer/surface interaction is sufficiently unfavorable. This is demonstrated in surface-initiated polymerization of a hydrophilic polymer, hyperbranched polyglycidol, from minority surface sites embedded in a hydrophobic self-assembled monolayer. As each hyperbranched polyglycidol molecule grows larger, it encounters more unfavorable interaction with the hydrophobic surface, and this leads to spontaneous bond rupture and desorption. This finding challenges the traditional view on noncovalent interaction of macromolecules with the local environment at interfaces and has broad implications for the understanding, design, synthesis, and applications of surface-tethered macromolecules.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Dehydration Synthesis
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...
Mass Spectrometry: Molecular Fragmentation Overview
One type of fragmentation pattern is the cleavage of a single bond in the molecular ion. The cleavage leads to a radical and a cation. The cleavage can occur at...
Radical Formation: Homolysis
Microbial Interactions: Mutualism
Microbial Interactions: Cooperation


