Reactive poly(divinyl benzene-co-maleic anhydride) nanoparticles: Preparation and characterization

Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) have drawn great interest in the past few years due to their potential applications in the fields of biomedical and optical technologies. However, it is still a challenge to prepare functional polymeric NPs, especially for particle diameters smaller than 50 nm. In this work, we demonstrate a one-pot method to fabricate reactive poly(divinyl benzene-co-maleic anhydride) NPs (PDVBMAH NPs) through a self-stable precipitation polymerization process. The size and morphology of these PDVBMAH NPs were characterized in detail by scanning electronic microscopy, and their chemical structure was determined by IR. The results showed that these NPs were highly cross-linked and their diameter was about 30 nm with narrow distribution. Additionally, the DVB and MAH endow the NPs with reactive surface anhydride and pendant vinyl groups, and these particles could be further functionalized through reaction of these groups. A plausible pathway was proposed for the formation of PDVBMAH NPs. (C) 2013 Wan-Tai Yang. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.