@article { , title = {Design, synthesis and RAFT polymerisation of a quinoline-based monomer for use in metal-binding composite microfibers}, abstract = {Metal-binding polymer fibres have attracted major attention for diverse applications in membranes for metal sequestration from waste waters, non-woven wound dressings, matrices for photocatalysis, and many more. This paper reports the design and synthesis of an 8-hydroxyquinoline-based zinc-binding styrenic monomer, QuiBoc. Its subsequent polymerisation by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) yielded well-defined polymers, PQuiBoc, of controllable molar masses (6 and 12 kg mol -1 ) with low dispersities (M w /M n < 1.3). Protected (PQuiBoc) and deprotected (PQuiOH) derivatives of the polymer exhibited a high zinc-binding capacity, as determined by semi-quantitative SEM/EDXA analyses, allowing the electrospinning of microfibres from a PQuiBoc/polystyrene (PS) blend without the need for removal of the protecting group. Simple "dip-coating" of the fibrous mats into ZnO suspensions showed that PQuiBoc/PS microfibres with only 20\% PQuiBoc content had almost three-fold higher loadings of ZnO (29\%) in comparison to neat PS microfibres (11\%).}, doi = {10.1039/c5ra25551a}, eissn = {2046-2069}, issn = {2046-2069}, issue = {8}, journal = {RSC advances}, pages = {6598-6606}, publicationstatus = {Published}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, url = {https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/383934}, volume = {6}, keyword = {Polymerisation, Metal-binding polymer fibres}, year = {2019}, author = {Efremova, Olga and Isakova, Anna and Lüer, Larry and Pullan, Nikki and Topham, Paul D.} }