Surface Curvature and Aminated Side-Chain Partitioning Affect Structure of Poly(oxonorbornenes) Attached to Planar Surfaces and Nanoparticles of Gold.

Cationic amphiphilic polymers are often used to coat nanoparticles as they increase chemical stability in solution and exhibit membrane disruption activities. Among these, poly(oxonorbornenes) (PONs) are tunable membrane disruptors. They can be constructed with either one amine-terminated side chain and one hydrophobic alkyl side chain (PON-50) or two amine-terminated side chains (PON-100) on each repeat unit and can then be conjugated to gold nanoparticles using O-(2-carboxyethyl)-O'-(2-mercaptoethyl) heptaethylene glycol (HEG) spacers.