Construction and Characterization of Artificial Oxygen Carriers Based on Perfluorocarbon Polyethers

Perfluorocarbon-based artificial oxygen carriers (PFOCs) have been recognized as one of the most promising approaches for efficient oxygen storage. However, their application remains limited due to inherent drawbacks, including large particle size, poor biocompatibility, and insufficient stability. To overcome the deficiencies of PFOCs, we design and synthesis a series of oxygen-carrier compounds and encapsulating materials via a Williamson ether reaction and living cationic polymerization to construct PFOCs, the precise chemical structure of which was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR and 19F NMR). The particle diameters of PFOCs based on new oxygen-carrier compounds and encapsulating materials were smaller than 200 nm obtained from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), significantly reducing immunological clearance risks. These PFOCs demonstrated exceptional oxygen storage capacity (40 mg/L at 25 °C) with >14 days stability under ambient conditions. Besides, the results of the CCK-8 test, those photographs of the hemolysis test and fluorescent microscope all indicated that the biocompatibility of PFOCs was good enough to meet the application requirements.