Versatile thiolactone-based conjugation strategies to polymer stabilizers for multifunctional upconverting nanoparticles aqueous dispersions.

We describe here a new methodology for the synthesis of well-defined phosphonic acid-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and RAFT-derived poly( N -vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and poly( N -vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) by amine-thiol-ene and amine-thiol-thiosulfonate conjugation strategies using a phosphonated thiolactone and their use to prepare stable, water-dispersible multifunctional upconverting luminescent nanohybrids.