On the feasibility of chemical reactions in the presence of siloxane-based surfactants

Siloxane-containing surfactants have been tested as stabilizers for the preparation of polymer nanoparticles by three types of chemical reactions. Two crosslinking reactions were used to obtain silicone elastomers particles: one involved HO-terminated polydimethylsiloxane and tetraethoxysilane, while the other one was a crosslinking via polyhydrosilylation. The third reaction was a linear polycondensation between a diamine and a siloxane dialdehyde. The monitoring of the reactions has been made by infrared spectroscopy and the resulting particles have been analyzed in dispersion by light scattering and in dry state by electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The particles size was of hundreds of nanometers and their spherical shape was generally maintained after drying. The spectral and microscopy data proved efficient stabilization, which allowed the reactions to evolve after the formation of the particles.