Untethering Single-Particle Chemical Kinetics
Despite the fact that most chemistry occurs in the solution phase, single-molecule approaches to chemistry have been limited to surface tethered studies. In collaborative work with the Blum Laboratory at the University of California, Irvine, lead author Donggeng (Shawn) Yu has demonstrated that active-feedback 3D single-particle tracking can untether single-particle chemical kinetics by “locking on” to freely diffusing and growing polymer particles. Using 3D-SMART, Shawn was able to measure the changing size of polymer particles formed by the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene. These data revealed the growth rates of individual particles, with the surprising observation that polymer particle growth rate was correlated with depth within the sample, demonstrating emergent heterogeneity while particles are still freely diffusing in solution. See more in the recent publication in JACS ASAP!
