PhD Thesis Defense- Julen de la Cuesta Leone

Structure and Function in Single-Chain Nanoparticles

November 5, 11:00

CFM Auditorium

Candidate: Julen de la Cuesta Leone

Supervisor: Josetxo Pomposo

Research group: Polymers and Soft Matter group

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Summary

The research field of folding functionalized synthetic polymers to single-chain polymer nanoparticles (SCNPs) has flourished in recent years. SCNPs are polymeric soft nano-objects consisting of uni-macromolecular chains collapsed to a certain degree by means of intramolecular bonding. This thesis tries to deepen the understanding of single-chain polymer nanoparticles (SCNPs) as complex soft nano-objects with potential applications in a variety of fields, specially catalysis and sensing. In particular, this work covers different aspects related to the structure and properties of SCNPs such as: i) the development of a theoretical model of elastic SCNPs allowing to understand the behavior of these nanoparticles in solution and on surfaces; ii) the design of SCNPs as advanced nanoreactors for the synthesis of a relevant intrinsically conducting polymer such as poly(ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT; iii) the design of highly fluorescent SCNPs by photoactivation of copolymers containing diazo functional groups and an aggregation induced emission (AIE) fluorophore decorated with azide moieties; and iv) the synthesis of SCNPs containing orthogonal fluorophores for self-reporting intramolecular compaction and, when present or externally induced, intermolecular aggregation.