Thermoresponsive polymer coated gold nanoparticles: from MADIX/RAFT copolymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone and N-vinylcaprolactam to salt and temperature induced nanoparticle aggregation

In the present contribution, we report the MADIX/RAFT polymerization for the synthesis of thermoresponsive homo and statistical copolymers of N-vinylcaprolactam (NVCL) and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP). The conditions for the polymerization of NVP were optimized using an automated parallel synthesizer and these optimal conditions were applied for preparing copolymers with systematical variation in composition. The cloud point temperatures (TCP's) of aqueous solutions of PNVCL and P(NVCL-stat-NVP)’s (CP1–CP5) were found to be tuneable between 40 °C and >95 °C at 5 mg mL−1. Next, stable colloidal solutions of AuNPs coated with PNVCL and CP1–CP5 were obtained via an exchange reaction of pre-synthesized citrate stabilized AuNPs with PNVCL and CP1–CP5 by a direct ‘grafting to’ approach. The maximum absorbance wavelength (λmax) of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band and size of all the thermoresponsive polymer coated AuNPs were found to be almost unchanged up to 65 °C (above the TCP of PNVCL and CP5) in MilliQ water which is presumably due to electrostatic stabilization of the AuNPs by residual citrate groups on the surface. However, in 0.1 M NaCl aqueous solution the λmax of the thermoresponsive AuNPs were red shifted when heated up to 65 °C which is attributed to the screening of the citrate negative charges on the surface of AuNPs that suppress electrostatic stabilization enabling T-induced aggregation leading to a shift in the SPR band. These thermoresponsive AuNPs may find applications as colorimetric temperature and/or salt sensors.