Thiol-containing microspheres as polymeric ligands for the immobilisation of quantum dotsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Fluoresence assay for assessment of QD-loading into thiol microspheres, TEM image of a single QD-microsphere and confocal microscope image of PVP-QD-microspheres in water. See DOI: 10.1039/b814261k

The first demonstration of the use of functionalised polystyrene beads as “polymeric ligands” for the immobilisation of quantum dots (QDs) is presented. Specifically, thiol-containing polystyrene microspheres were synthesised and used to incorporate QDs viaa swelling/doping strategy. The resultant composite materials were shown to be highly stable against QD leaching in both apolar and polar solvents and retained an identical QD emission profile to non-immobilised QDs. This straightforward approach also allows easy access to controllable and reproducible multiple-QD-containing microspheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]