• Quiñoá, Emilio
• Bergueiro, Julián
• Riguera, Ricardo
• Núñezmartínez, Manuel
• Arias, Sandra
• Freire, Félix

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The helical sense control of dynamic helical polymers such as poly(phenylacetylene)s (PPAs) is greatly affected when they are conjugated to AuNPs through a strong thiol‐Au connection, which restricts conformational changes at the polymer. Thus, the classical thiol‐MNP bonds must be replaced by weaker ones, such as supramolecular amide–Au interactions. A straightforward preparation of the PPA–Au nanocomposite by reduction of a preformed PPA–Au<jats:sup>3+</jats:sup> complex cannot be used due to a redox reaction between the two components of the complex which degrades the polymer. To avoid the interaction between the PPA and the Au<jats:sup>3+</jats:sup> ions before the reduction takes place, the metal ions are added to the polymer solution capped as a TOAB complex, which keeps the PPA stable due to the lack of PPA–Au<jats:sup>3+</jats:sup> interactions. Ulterior reduction of the Au<jats:sup>3+</jats:sup> ions by NaBH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> affords the desired nanocomposite, where the AuNPs are stabilized by supramolecular anilide–AuNPs interactions. By using this approach, 3.7 nm gold nanoparticles are generated and aligned along the polymer chain with a regular distance between particles of 6 nm that corresponds to two helical pitches. These nanocomposites show stimuli‐responsive properties and are also able to form macroscopically chiral nanospheres with tunable size.</jats:p>

Topics

• nanoparticle
• nanocomposite
• impedance spectroscopy
• polymer
• gold
• aligned