Nanostructured surfaces
Metal complexes of silicone-based ligands able to self-assemble
Georgiana-Oana Turcan-Trofin1, Mirela-Fernanda Zaltariov1, Maria Cazacu1
1 Inorganic Polymers department, “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Iasi, 41A Grigore Ghica Voda Alley 700487 Iasi, Romania
E-mail: turcan-trofin.georgiana@icmpp.com

Siloxane substrates (e.g., tetramethyldisiloxane or methylcyclosiloxanes) are functionalized by attaching groups, such as carboxyl or triazole ring, by different strategies (thiol-ene addition, thioalkylation). The co-existence in structure of the highly hydrophobic methyl group and the hydrophilic carboxyl group gives an amphiphilic character to the resulting compounds. 
As a result, in the solution, depending on the polarity of the environment, they self-assemble in nano- or microstructures with different geometries. In the presence of metal ions, in solution, the coordinating compounds formed also separate as aggregates with different self-assembly patterns. 
They have been structurally characterized by various techniques (elemental, spectral), as well as in terms of morphology (TEM, SEM, X-ray diffraction), while the biological activity was evaluated against a number of fungi and bacteria. The results were compared with those of the corresponding free organic precursors prepared and taken as references.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a grant of Ministery of Research and Innovation, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0642, within PNCDI III (Contract 114/2017).