Phenanthroline-A Versatile Ligand for Advanced Functional Polymeric Materials
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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Fabricating Superhydrophobic Polymeric Materials for Biomedical Applications
Published on: August 28, 2015
Hannah Rothfuss1,2, Nicolai D Knöfel3, Pavleta Tzvetkova4
1Macromolecular Architectures, Institute for Technical Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesserstrasse 18, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Abstract:
The controlled incorporation of phenanthroline moieties into polymers is introduced, demonstrating their application as metal-ion complexing ligands for the construction of advanced macromolecular structures. Specifically, two phenanthroline-containing monomers based on acrylate and styrene functionalities, were synthesized. Each monomer was readily copolymerized with either N,N-dimethylacrylamide or styrene via nitroxide-mediated polymerization, resulting in narrowly distributed polar or non-polar copolymers. To demonstrate the versatility of the established polymer systems, the polar polymer was employed for transition metal induced single-chain nanoparticle formation, verified by diffusion-ordered NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Furthermore, the non-polar polymer allows facile incorporation of lanthanide ions, creating luminescent metallo-polymers, in-depth characterized by advanced photophysical experiments and 2D NMR measurements.
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