l‐glutathione, a naturally occurring environmental friendly amino acid, was used as an initiator towards the ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ɛ‐caprolactone (CL) followed by the ROP of tetrahydrofuran (THF). The thiol group of l‐glutathione reduces Ag+ ions and chemically bound to the surface of Ag nanoparticles. The ROP of CL was carried out at 160 °C under nitrogen atmosphere in the presence of stannous octoate(SO) as catalyst whereas the ROP of THF was carried out at 45 °C for 24 h in the presence of phthalic anhydride (PAH) as a comonomer. The synthesized homo, di and nano Ag end capped diblock copolymers were characterized by FTIR, DSC, TGA, FESEM, high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), EDAX, GPC, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fluorescence and CD. Further the application of diblock copolymer was tested for splinting activity. The catalytic reduction of 4‐nitrophenol (NP) in the presence of nano Ag end capped diblock copolymer was carried out with the assistance of sodium borohydride as a reducing agent and the apparent rate constant (kapp) was determined and compared with the literature values. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43804.

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ABSTRACT:The ring-opening polymerization of ɛ-caprolactone and morpholine mixture was carried out at 160°C for 24 h under nitrogen atmosphere at two different experimental conditions, mercaptoaceticacid (MAA) and Ag-MAA initiator variation. The resultants were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, gel permeation chromatography, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy techniques. The tensile strength of the copolymer nanocomposites was tested. The catalytic reduction behavior (reduction of nitrophenol into amino phenol), splinting activity, and drug delivery activity of the copolymer nanocomposite were tested. The obtained results were analyzed and critically compared. C

A novel silver nanoparticle doped diblock copolymer was synthesized by a 3‐step process via bulk polymerization process under nitrogen atmosphere. The above prepared polymer is characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, fluorescence emission spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD), HRTEM, and FESEM. The sulphamicacid end capped poly(ε‐caprolactone) (P1) system exhibited higher tensile strength than the sulphamicacid bridged diblock copolymer (P2) and nano Ag doped sulphamicacid bridged diblock copolymer (P3) systems. The splinting activity of the diblock copolymers was tested and confirmed the low temperature splinting activity of the diblock copolymer. The Ag nanoparticle catalyzed catalytic reduction of p‐nitrophenol (NiP) was tested, and the apparent rate constant (kapp) was determined as 7.36 × 10−3 sec−1. The thermal studies were carried out by DSC and TGA methods. The TGA study declared that the P1 system has higher degradation temperature than the P2 and P3 systems. The P1 system has higher melting temperature (Tm) (75.5°C) than the P2 and P3 systems. The CD study indicated that the conformation of sulphamicacid was not changed even after the formation of nano Ag doped sulphamicacid bridged diblock copolymer.

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