Iron Complexes as Crosslinking Agents for Construction of multi-stimuli Responsive Nanoaggregates

S. E. Herrera,^a M. L. Agazzi,^a M. L. Cortez,^a W. Marmisollé,^a M. Tagliazucchi,^b and O. Azzaroni.^a*

^a Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA), Departamento de Química, Faculta de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, CONICET, Calle 64 y Diag. 113, 1900 La Plata, Argentina

^b INQUIMAE, CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

In this work we show the use of anionic iron complexes ([Fe(C₂O₄)]^3-, [Fe(CN)₆]^3- and [Fe(CN)₆]^4-) as non-covalent crosslinkers for the construction of poly(ethyleneimine)-based colloidal nanoaggregates (rPSA).^1–3 As we found that the supramolecular matrix of rPSA is mainly stabilized by electrostatic interactions, altering in the cross-linker state of charge can trigger either the rPSA assembly or disassembly.

In this approach we use several external stimuli such as UV-light irradiation, pH changes and adding of oxidizing/reducing agents to produce a selective assembly/disassembly of rPSA. The outstanding response of the rPSA presented in this work could be further exploited for the construction of stimuli-responsive nano-sized drug delivery agents.

1 S. E. Herrera, M. L. Agazzi, M. L. Cortez, W. A. Marmisollé, M. Tagliazucchi and O. Azzaroni, Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 14653–14656.

2 S. E. Herrera, M. L. Agazzi, M. L. Cortez, W. A. Marmisollé, M. Tagliazucchi and O. Azzaroni, ChemPhysChem, 2019, 20, 1044–1053.

3 S. E. Herrera, M. L. Agazzi, M. L. Cortez, W. A. Marmisollé, M. Tagliazucchi and O. Azzaroni, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., , DOI:10.1039/D0CP00077A.

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 NP2020-038.pdf