Creating a single surfactant that is open to manipulation, while maintaining its surface activity, robustness, and compatibility, to expand the landscape of surfactant-dependent assays is extremely challenging. We report an oxidation-responsive precursor with thioethers and multiple 1,2-diols for creating a variety of functional surfactants from one parent surfactant. Using these multifunctional surfactants, we stabilize microfluidics-generated aqueous droplets. The droplets encapsulate different components and immerse in a bioinert oil with distinct interfaces where an azide-bearing surfactant allow fishing of biomolecules from the droplets, aldehyde-bearing surfactant allow fabrication of microcapsules, and hydroxyl-bearing surfactants, with/without oxidized thioethers, allow monitoring of single-cell gene expression. Creating multifunctional surfactants poses opportunities for broad applications, including adsorption, bioanalytics, catalysis, formulations, coatings, and programmable subset of emulsions.

创建一种可操作的单一表面活性剂，同时保持其表面活性、稳健性和相容性，以扩大表面活性剂依赖性测定的范围是极具挑战性的。我们报告了一种具有硫醚和多种 1,2-二醇的氧化响应前体，用于从一种母体表面活性剂中产生各种功能性表面活性剂。使用这些多功能表面活性剂，我们可以稳定微流体产生的水滴。液滴封装不同的成分并浸入具有不同界面的生物惰性油中，其中含叠氮化物的表面活性剂允许从液滴中捕获生物分子，含醛的表面活性剂允许制造微胶囊，而含羟基的表面活性剂，有/没有氧化的硫醚，允许监测单细胞基因表达。