Preparation and applications of novel fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomeric nanocomposites

Fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomers [RF–(M)n–RF] were prepared by reaction of fluoroalkanoyl peroxide [RF–C(O)OO(OC)–RF] with traditional radical polymerizable monomers (M) under very mild conditions. These fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomers can form nanometre size controlled self-assembled molecular aggregates with the aggregation of terminal fluoroalkyl segments in aqueous and organic media. Due to the poor radical polymerizable characteristic of fluoroalkanoyl peroxide toward traditional radical polymerizable monomers, fluoroalkanoyl peroxide was applied to the preparation of cross-linked fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomeric nanoparticles. Furthermore, fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomeric aggregates can interact with a variety of guest molecules such as silica gel, magnetite, gold, silver, copper, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, calcium carbonate, nanodiamond, and hydroxyapatite to afford the corresponding fluorinated oligomer/guest molecule nanocomposites. The preparation and applications of these cross-linked fluorinated oligomeric nanoparticles and fluorinated oligomer/guest molecule nanocomposites are reviewed in this article.