Combination of Surface Initiated Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization, Thiol-Ene Click Chemistry and Coordination Chemistry for the Fabrication of a Novel Photoluminescent Hydroxyapatite Nanohybrids.

Hydroxyapatite nanocrystals (HAPs) were encapsulated by poly(allyl methacrylate) (PAMA) employing controlled surface-initiated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of allyl methacrylate to give HAP-PAMA nanohybrids. The subsequent thiol-ene coupling of nanohybrids with 2-mercaptosuccinic acid resulted in HAP-PAMA-COOH possessing multicarboxyl functionality. The coordination of the nanohybrids with Tb3+ ions in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) afforded photoluminescent Tb3+ tagged HAPs-PAMA nanohybrid complexes (HAP-PAMA-Tb3+-Phen). The structure, morphology, and fluorescence properties of the Tb3+ coordinated nanohybrid complexes were investigated by respective physical and spectral studies.