Nanocrystal Encapsulation, Release and Application Based on pH-Sensitive Covalent Dynamic Hyperbranched Polymers

Yunfeng Shi; Gaiying Lei; Linzhu Zhou; Yueyang Li; Xiaoming Zhang; Yujiao Yang; Han Peng; Rui Peng; Huichun Wang; Xiufen Cai; Xinglong Chen; Mengyue Wang; Gang Wang

doi:10.3390/polym11121926

Nanocrystal Encapsulation, Release and Application Based on pH-Sensitive Covalent Dynamic Hyperbranched Polymers

Polymers (Basel). 2019 Nov 22;11(12):1926. doi: 10.3390/polym11121926.

Authors

Yunfeng Shi^{1

2}, Gaiying Lei³, Linzhu Zhou⁴, Yueyang Li¹, Xiaoming Zhang¹, Yujiao Yang¹, Han Peng¹, Rui Peng¹, Huichun Wang¹, Xiufen Cai¹, Xinglong Chen¹, Mengyue Wang¹, Gang Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, China.
² Henan Province Key Laboratory of New Optoelectronic Functional Materials, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, China.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China.

Abstract

A new strategy for nanocrystal encapsulation, release and application based on pH-sensitive covalent dynamic hyperbranched polymers is described. The covalent dynamic hyperbranched polymers, with multi-arm hydrophobic chains and a hydrophilic hyperbranched poly(amidoamine) (HPAMAM) core connected with pH-sensitive imine bonds (HPAMAM-DA), could encapsulate CdTe quantum dots (QDs) and Au nanoparticles (NPs). Benefiting from its pH response property, CdTe QDs and Au NPs encapsulated by HPAMAM-DA could be released to aqueous phase after imine hydrolysis. The released CdTe/HPAMAM and Au/HPAMAM nanocomposites exhibited excellent biological imaging behavior and high catalytic activities on p-nitrophenol hydrogenation, respectively.

Keywords: cell imaging; hydrogenation catalysis; nanocrystal encapsulation; pH-sensitive covalent dynamic hyperbranched polymer; release.