The authors create a boronic acid-terminated pNIPAAm via ATRP and CuAAC click chemistry. Boronic acids are known to bind cis-diol saccharides and exhibit a change in fluorescence. Using boronic acid terminated NIPAAm, the authors demonstrate the ability to sense fructose by changes in fluorescence spectrometry and the ability to remove fructose by thermo-aggregation of NIPAAm. The synthesis of the polymer is simple, involving no protection/deprotection, and results in a terminal bromine that can be used for further functionalization and conjugation.
Structurally, boronic acid compound is a trivalent boron-containing organic compound with alkyl substituent and hydroxyl groups to fill the valence on the boron atom. Due to the electron deficiency, the sp2-hybridized boron atom possesses an empty p-orbital. boronic compounds
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