Reactive and 'clickable' electrospun polymeric nanofibers

This mini-review summarizes various approaches that have been employed to obtain functional electrospun polymeric nanofibers. Examples from recent literature are used to highlight the design of reactive and 'clickable' nanofibers that can be rendered with functional attributes through efficient conjugation of various molecules and macromolecules. The key role of contemporary synthetic polymer chemistry in enabling the synthesis of various reactive polymers as precursors for such reactive and 'clickable' fibers is clearly evident. A few reports have also demonstrated that 'click' reaction based strategies can be utilized towards fabrication of robust crosslinked or porous nanofibers as well as their subsequent functionalization.