title: Step-growth polymerization of inorganic nanoparticles.
abstract: Self-organization of nanoparticles is an efficient strategy for producing nanostructures with complex, hierarchical architectures. The past decade has witnessed great progress in nanoparticle self-assembly, yet the quantitative prediction of the architecture of nanoparticle ensembles and of the kinetics of their formation remains a challenge. We report on the marked similarity between the self-assembly of metal nanoparticles and reaction-controlled step-growth polymerization. The nanoparticles act as multifunctional monomer units, which form reversible, noncovalent bonds at specific bond angles and organize themselves into a colloidal polymer. We show that the kinetics and statistics of step-growth polymerization enable a quantitative prediction of the architecture of linear, branched, and cyclic self-assembled nanostructures; their aggregation numbers and size distribution; and the formation of structural isomers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rubinstein
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kumacheva
mesh_terms: D000077286:Cetrimonium; D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D003102:Colloids; D003500:Cyclization; D006046:Gold; D007536:Isomerism; D007700:Kinetics; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D011108:Polymers; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds; D003102:Colloids; D011108:Polymers; D011137:Polystyrenes; D006046:Gold; D000077286:Cetrimonium