Reactive nanorods based on activated ester polymers: a versatile template-assisted approach for the fabrication of functional nanorods

A new route for the fabrication of polymeric nanorods with functional moieties via post-modification of reactive nanorods is described. To this end reactive nanorods with a homogenous and narrow size distribution were fabricated by utilizing an anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template-assisted approach. The nanorods are based on activated pentafluorophenyl esters, to enable quantitative post-modification with amines under very mild reaction conditions yielding the corresponding functionalized amide. Post-modification with fluorescent dyes as well as the conversion into well-dispersed rod-shaped poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogels that exhibit a thermal-responsive phase transition was demonstrated. The platform of reactive nanorods provides the fabrication of various functional nanoobjects and may find application in research fields like drug delivery.