Fluorescence Self-Reporting Precipitation Polymerization Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission for Constructing
Guan Wang1, Liangyu Zhou1, Pengfei Zhang2
1Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, North Third Ring Road 15, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029, China.
Abstract:
Precipitation polymerization is becoming increasingly popular in energy, environment and biomedicine. However, its proficient utilization highly relies on the mechanistic understanding of polymerization process. Now, a fluorescence self-reporting method based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is used to shed light on the mechanism of precipitation polymerization. The nucleation and growth processes during the copolymerization of a vinyl-modified AIEgen, styrene, and maleic anhydride can be sensitively monitored in real time. The phase-separation and dynamic hardening processes can be clearly discerned by tracking fluorescence changes. Moreover, polymeric fluorescent particles (PFPs) with uniform and tunable sizes can be obtained in a self-stabilized manner. These PFPs exhibit biolabeling and photosensitizing abilities and are used as superior optical nanoagents for photo-controllable immunotherapy, indicative of their great potential in biomedical applications.
