Free radical nano scavenger based on amphiphilic novolacs

Abstract

As the first synthetic plastic, bakelite, which was developed 100 years ago, is still being used nowadays. Beyond its conventional applications as engineering plastics till today, novolacs, the soluble form of bakelite, are modified by partly PEGylation via “Click” chemistry to construct a novel amphiphilic polymer in this research. The resulting novolacs-PEG is capable of forming micellar nano-aggregates in aqueous solution at concentrations above the critical micellar concentration = 10.5 μg mL⁻¹. The remaining phenolic moities on the backbone of novolacs provide a unique chance to scavenge hydroxyl radicals, impersonating natural poly-phenolic antioxidants from food extract. As a result, the novolacs-PEG proves highly effective to protect crystal blue from being bleached by hydroxyl radicals generated by Fenton reagents. In addition, the novel micelles are nontoxic to cells in in vitro experiment, and so are very promising in anti-ROS (reactive oxygen species) applications. This new application of novolacs reveals a promising nano-platform of synthetic research to act against ROSs which can highly damage human health.