Photo-Degradable Functional Polyesters from an o-Nitrobenzyl Dithiol: Synthesis and Applications in Herbicide Delivery

An o-nitrobenzyl dithiol and a group of diacrylatescontaining one or two functional groups were designed for facile synthesisof a series of linear photo-labile functional and heterobifunctionalpoly(beta-thioester)s via thiol-ene click polymerization. These o-nitrobenzyl thioether-containing polyesters show excellentphoto-degradation properties under UV light. Photo-responsive polymericnanoparticles from a functional polyester exhibit good weeding performanceas a herbicide delivery system. The possible photo-degradation mechanismof the polyesters was studied and proposed. The o-nitrobenzyl dithiol and its corresponding photo-labile polyesterscould be used in smart drug or pesticide delivery, photo-labile graftcopolymers synthesis, and even photolithography.