Highly effective synthesis of mercapto-functionalized cubic silsesquioxanes as the first step in designing advanced nano-delivery systems

Abstract

A straightforward protocol for the efficient synthesis of sulfur-substituted silsesquioxanes (SQ), based on the α-hydrothiolation of terminal alkynes and catalyzed by a supersteric NHC–rhodium complex, is presented for the first time. The proposed strategy led to a novel class of nanomaterials with many potential medicinal and synthetic applications which had previously been inaccessible by other methods. As a result, twelve new mercapto-modified SQ derivatives were obtained with yields in the range from 84% to 92% and comprehensively characterized by spectroscopic methods.