Nanogels hold promise as soft and functional carriers and nanoreactors, but whether they will ever reach the stage of large-scale application depends crucially on efficient production methods, and on what interesting properties and functionalities they can have. In particular, nanogels consisting of highly charged polyelectrolyte have not yet been very much explored. Here, the authors present a novel and generic strategy for controlled and efficient synthesis of a large diversity of polyelectrolyte nanogels. The method is based on polymerizing an ionic monomer in the presence of an oppositely charged polyion-neutral diblock copolymer as template, while adding a cross-linker. The growing polymer chains assemble with the template, forming polyion complex micelles, which dissociate upon increasing salt concentration. Subsequent separation yields nanogels with well-controlled size and properties, and free template polymers that can be used again. Our design can be applied generally to a wide range of both cationic and anionic monomers, as well as various cross-linkers. Scaled-up production presents no problems as increasing monomer concentration (hundreds of mM) and reaction volume (up to 1 L) hardly compromise product quality. Moreover, the obtained nanogels with their well-controlled size, morphology, chemistry, and cross-linking degree perform well as soft nanocarriers and catalytic nanoreactors.

中文翻译：

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静电组装定向聚合高效通用制备多种聚电解质纳米凝胶

纳米凝胶有望作为柔软，功能性的载体和纳米反应器，但是它们是否会进入大规模应用阶段，关键取决于有效的生产方法，以及它们所具有的有趣特性和功能。特别地，尚未高度探索由高电荷聚电解质组成的纳米凝胶。在这里，作者们提出了一种新颖且通用的策略，用于可控制和有效地合成多种多样的聚电解质纳米凝胶。该方法基于在带相反电荷的聚离子-中性二嵌段共聚物作为模板的存在下聚合离子单体，同时添加交联剂。不断增长的聚合物链与模板组装在一起，形成聚离子复合胶束，随着盐浓度的增加而离解。随后的分离产生具有良好控制的尺寸和性质的纳米凝胶，以及可以再次使用的游离模板聚合物。我们的设计通常可应用于各种阳离子和阴离子单体，以及各种交联剂。规模化生产没有问题，因为增加单体浓度（数百mM）和反应体积（最大1 L）几乎不会影响产品质量。此外，所获得的纳米凝胶具有良好控制的尺寸，形态，化学性质和交联度，它们作为软纳米载体和催化纳米反应器表现良好。规模化生产没有问题，因为增加单体浓度（数百mM）和反应体积（最大1 L）几乎不会影响产品质量。此外，所获得的纳米凝胶具有良好控制的尺寸，形态，化学性质和交联度，它们作为软纳米载体和催化纳米反应器表现良好。规模化生产没有问题，因为增加单体浓度（数百mM）和反应体积（最大1 L）几乎不会影响产品质量。此外，所获得的具有良好控制的尺寸，形态，化学性质和交联度的纳米凝胶作为软纳米载体和催化纳米反应器表现良好。