# Synthesis of carbonyl-functionalized mercaptosilsesquioxane

## TL;DR

This paper presents a new, efficient method to create carbonyl-functionalized nanomaterials using a simple and inexpensive chemical process.

## Contribution

The study introduces a transition metal-free, ambient condition method for hydrothiolation of POSS with unsaturated carbonyl compounds.

## Key findings

- The method achieved yields exceeding 90% for a wide range of substrates.
- Twelve new mercapto-modified nanomaterials with carbonyl groups were synthesized and characterized.
- One product was analyzed for its thermal properties, showing practical application potential.

## Abstract

Commercially available and inexpensive potassium carbonate (K2CO3) has been applied to the hydrothiolation of mercaptopropylisobutyl POSS (SQ-SH) with α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds of different types. This innovative approach has been proved to be effective for a wide range of substrates, leading to novel classes of functionalized SQ-based materials in yields exceeding 90% under ambient temperature, air and transition metal-free conditions. Additionally, the proposed synthetic strategy has been used for the modification of chalcones, the compounds with significant medicinal and synthetic potential. As a result, twelve new mercapto-modified nanomaterials containing carbonyl groups were obtained and comprehensively characterized by spectroscopic methods and mass analysis. The selected product of great practical application was studied in terms of its thermal properties.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-14360-x.