The facile fabrication of well-defined single-chain polymeric nanoparticles (SCNPs) with variable sizes was realized using polymers with furan-protected maleimide (FMI) moieties as a synthetic platform. Well-defined linear polymer chains bearing FMI moieties were prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. These linear polymer chains were then collapsed into individual particles with diameters of 10–20 nm via three chemical routes: intramolecular RAFT polymerization, intramolecular ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), and bimolecular thiol–maleimide coupling. Size exclusion chromatography, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and dynamic light scattering analyses confirmed the formation of the SCNPs. Through tuning the parameters of each chemical reaction, i.e., ROMP, RAFT and thiol-Michael, SCNPs with variable sizes can be fabricated. Cell culture experiments revealed that cell proliferation was promoted for these surface-bound SCNPs compared with those bound with a linear precursor. This work enables the production of SCNPs with more variabilities on particle sizes and functionalities, and offers an instructive pathway for the potential use of SCNPs as functional polymeric materials.

中文翻译：

---

使用带有呋喃保护的马来酰亚胺部分的聚合物可控地合成各种单链聚合物纳米粒子†

使用具有呋喃保护的马来酰亚胺（FMI）部分的聚合物作为合成平台，可以轻松制造大小可变的明确定义的单链聚合物纳米颗粒（SCNP）。通过可逆的加成-断裂链转移（RAFT）聚合反应制备了定义明确的带有FMI部分的线性聚合物链。然后，这些线性聚合物链通过三种化学途径：分子内RAFT聚合，分子内开环复分解聚合（ROMP）和双分子硫醇-马来酰亚胺偶联。尺寸排阻色谱，质子核磁共振波谱，原子力显微镜和动态光散射分析证实了SCNP的形成。通过调整每个化学反应的参数，即可以制造大小可变的ROMP，RAFT和硫醇-Michael，SCNP。细胞培养实验表明，与线性前体结合的SCNPs相比，这些表面结合的SCNPs促进了细胞增殖。这项工作使SCNPs的粒径和功能性具有更大的可变性，并为SCNPs作为功能性聚合材料的潜在用途提供了指导性途径。