Monodisperse fusiform microporous silica formed by evaporation-induced self assembly of polyamino acid copolymer template

A amphiphilic and biodegradable block copolymer is obtained by introducing hydrophilic polyethylene glycol segments into the segments of polyamino acids through copolymerization. And the block copolymers, poly(L-phenylalanine)-b-poly(ethylene glycol), are used to fabricate silica materials through Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly method. In the synthesis procedure, anilino-methyl triethoxy silane is used as an intermedium, on the one hand it interacts with polypeptide-based copolymer through pi-pi interaction between the phenyl groups of phenylalanine segments and anilino-methyl triethoxy silane; on the other hand, anilino-methyl triethoxy silane can co-condense with tetraethoxylsilane through hydrolysis process. The prepared silica possesses supermicropores and it is proposed that the supermicropores are templated by the polypeptide segments. It is proved that both polypeptide-based block copolymer and anilino-methyl triethoxy silane play important roles in the formation of mesoscale short-range-order and hierarchical structure. When the phenylalanine segment of block copolymer is longer, it can induce a well-defined shuttle-like morphology of polymer/silica hybrid particles.

Automated summary

By introducing hydrophilic polyethylene glycol segments into polyamino acid segments through copolymerization, an amphiphilic and biodegradable block copolymer is obtained. The block copolymers are used to fabricate silica materials with supermicropores through Evaporation-Induced Self-Assembly method. The polypeptide-based block copolymer and anilino-methyl triethoxy silane play important roles in the formation of mesoscale short-range-order and hierarchical structure.