A new method for the preparation of silica-polycarbazole composite particles of a core-shell morphology

Spherical hybrid 149 +/- 44 nm-sized silica-carbazole (Cbz) nanoparticles (H-SiO2-g-Cbz(2%) NPs) were prepared using the basic hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and of a bifunctional N-carbazolyl-(3-(triethoxysilyl) propyl) butanamide silane in W/O micro-emulsion conditions. In a 2(nd) step, surface-localized heterocyclic Cbz groups acted as nucleophilic attachment species towards a polyCOOH poly(dicarbazole-lysine) polymer adlayer generated oxidatively. This sequential process that used an intermediate nucleophilic nanomaterial phase resulted in spherical 454 +/- 136 nm-sized composite particles possessing a core-shell morphology engineered by design.