Self-assembly of water-soluble core-functionalized poly(ferrocenylsilane)-b-polysiloxane block copolymers

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Block copolymer self-assembly can lead to a variety of morphologies, e.g. micelles or vesicles. Virtually all prepared polymers to date are carbon-based, since organometallic polymers were not synthetically accessible until around ten years ago. Recently several hybrid organic/inorganic block copolymers with a poly(ferrocenylsilane) segment have been prepared and they were shown to self-assemble in organic solvents into spherical or cylindrical micelles, or nanotubes. Water-soluble poly(ferrocenylsilane) block copolymers, however, are still very rare. They are of particular interest since they might be used as biomaterials. In this project, I would like to study the self-assembly of poly(ferrocenylsilane) block copolymers in aqueous solution. In particular, it would be interesting to see if it is possible to transfer the ability of poly(ferrocenyl- silane)-poly(siloxane) block copolymers to form nanotubes in hexane to aqueous solutions. Modification of the poly(siloxane) segment with short ethylene glycol chains should ensure the water-solubility of the block copolymers. In addition, core- functionalisation with a water-soluble biomolecule or other ligand might open up the potential to use these systems as nanoreactors. It would also be interesting to study their encapsulation and ion sequestering properties, resulting in e.g. water-soluble magnetic tubes.