Microfluidic assisted fabrication of polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composites

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11753485-B2
Application number	US-201816651067-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2018
Priority date	Sep 26, 2017
Publication date	Sep 12, 2023
Grant date	Sep 12, 2023

Abstract

The present application relates to polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composites, to methods of preparing polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composites and to uses of such composites. The methods comprise introducing into a microfluidic device, a composition comprising: a cationic metal nanoparticle precursor; a polymer microparticle precursor that comprises a plurality of photopolymerizable groups; and a photoreducer-photoinitiator; then irradiating the composition under conditions to simultaneously reduce the cationic metal and polymerize the photopolymerizable groups to obtain the composite.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for preparing a polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composite, the method comprising:
introducing into a microfluidic device, a composition comprising:
a cationic metal nanoparticle precursor;
a polymer microparticle precursor that comprises a plurality of photopolymerizable groups and a plurality of metal-anchoring groups; and
a photoreducer-photoinitiator; and
irradiating the composition under conditions to simultaneously reduce the cationic metal and polymerize the photopolymerizable groups to obtain the polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composite,
wherein the polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composite comprises a uniform distribution of metal nanoparticles embedded in a polymeric resin microparticle, the polymeric resin comprising the plurality of metal-anchoring groups, wherein the metal-anchoring groups are derived from bi-functional thiols, and wherein the metal anchoring groups are anchored to the nanoparticles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cationic metal nanoparticle pre-cursor is a cationic gold nanoparticle precursor, a cationic silver nanoparticle precursor, a cationic copper nanoparticle precursor or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer microparticle precursor is obtained from a method comprising:
reacting a monomer comprising two or more photopolymerizable groups with an anchor precursor comprising at least one metal-anchoring group and at least one group that will react with the photopolymerizable group.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the monomer further comprises an oligomeric poly(ethylene glycol).

5. A polymer microparticle-metal nanoparticle composite comprising a uniform distribution of metal nanoparticles embedded in a polymeric resin microparticle, the polymeric resin comprising a plurality of metal-anchoring groups, wherein the metal-anchoring groups are derived from bi-functional thiols, and wherein the metal anchoring groups are anchored to the nanoparticles.

6. The composite of claim 5 , wherein the metal nanoparticles are gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, copper nanoparticles or nanoparticles comprising a combination of two or more of gold, silver and copper.

7. The composite of claim 5 , wherein the polymeric resin is an acrylate resin.

8. The composite of claim 5 , wherein the polymeric resin further comprises an oligomeric poly(ethylene glycol).

9. The composite of claim 5 , further comprising a plurality of analyte-binding biomolecules linked to the surface of the composite.

10. The composite of claim 5 , wherein the composite has an average diameter of from about 1 μm to about 100 μm.

11. The composite of claim 6 , wherein the metal nanoparticles are gold nanoparticles.

12. The composite claim 5 , wherein the metal nanoparticles are present in an amount of from about 0.1% wt to about 30% wt, based on the total weight of the composite.

13. The composite of claim 5 , wherein the metal anchoring groups are derived from dithiothreitol.

14. The composite of claim 5 , wherein the polymeric resin is a poly(ethylene glycol)-diacrylate (PEGDA) resin or an ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate (ETPTA) resin.

15. The composite of claim 14 , wherein the polymeric resin is a PEGDA resin.

16. The composite of claim 9 , wherein the analyte-binding molecules are DNA probes, antibodies or aptamers.

17. The composite of claim 5 , further comprising a plurality of polymerase chain reaction primers embedded in the polymer resin.

Assignees

• Nat Res Council Canada

Inventors

• Malic Lidija
• Zhang Xuefeng
• Morton Keith
• Veres Teodor

Classifications

• C08F2/44 Primary

  Polymerisation in the presence of compounding ingredients, e.g. plasticisers, dyestuffs, fillers · CPC title

• C08F292/00 Primary

  Macromolecular compounds obtained by polymerising monomers on to inorganic materials · CPC title

• C08F2/01 Primary

  characterised by special features of the polymerisation apparatus used · CPC title

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title

• C08F2/48

  by ultraviolet or visible light · CPC title