Alternating Methyl Methacrylate/n-Butyl Acrylate Copolymer Prepared by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Poly(methyl methacrylate/n-butyl acrylate) [P(MMA/BA)] copolymer with an alternating structure was synthesized via an activator regenerated by electron transfer (ARGET) atom transfer radical (co)polymerization (ATRP) of 2-ethylfenchyl methacrylate (EFMA) and n-butyl acrylate (BA) with subsequent postpolymerization modifications (PPM). Due to the steric hindrance of the bulky pendant group of EFMA, as well as the low reactivity ratio of BA in copolymerization with methacrylates, copolymerization of EFMA and BA generated a copolymer with a high content of alternating dyads. A subsequent PPM procedure of the alternating EFMA/BA copolymer was comprised of the hydrolysis of a tertiary ester by trifluoroacetic acid and methylation by (trimethylsilyl)diazomethane. After the modifications, the architecture of the obtained alternating MMA/BA copolymers was compared with gradient and statistical copolymers with overall similar compositions, molecular weights, and dispersities. ¹³C NMR indicated the absence of either MMA/MMA/MMA or BA/BA/BA sequences, in contrast to an abundance of homotriads in either the statistical or especially in the gradient copolymer. All three copolymers had similar glass transition temperatures, as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), but the alternating copolymer had the narrowest range of glass transition.

Iron-Mediated Homogeneous ICAR ATRP of Methyl Methacrylate under ppm Level Organometallic Catalyst Iron(III) Acetylacetonate

Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) is an important polymerization process in polymer synthesis. However, a typical ATRP system has some drawbacks. For example, it needs a large amount of transition metal catalyst, and it is difficult or expensive to remove the metal catalyst residue in products. In order to reduce the amount of catalyst and considering good biocompatibility and low toxicity of the iron catalyst, in this work, we developed a homogeneous polymerization system of initiators for continuous activator regeneration ATRP (ICAR ATRP) with just a ppm level of iron catalyst. Herein, we used oil-soluble iron (III) acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)₃) as the organometallic catalyst, 1,1'-azobis (cyclohexanecarbonitrile) (ACHN) with longer half-life period as the thermal initiator, ethyl 2-bromophenylacetate (EBPA) as the initiator, triphenylphosphine (PPh₃) as the ligand, toluene as the solvent and methyl methacrylate (MMA) as the model monomer. The factors related with the polymerization system, such as concentration of Fe(acac)₃ and ACHN and polymerization kinetics, were investigated in detail at 90 °C. It was found that a polymer with an acceptable molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn = 1.43 at 45.9% of monomer conversion) could be obtained even with 1 ppm of Fe(acac)₃, making it needless to remove the residual metal in the resultant polymers, which makes such an ICAR ATRP process much more industrially attractive. The "living" features of this polymerization system were further confirmed by chain-extension experiment.

Progress in reactor engineering of controlled radical polymerization: a comprehensive review

Controlled radical polymerization (CRP) represents an important advancement in polymer chemistry. It allows synthesis of polymers with well-controlled chain microstructures.

Diffusion-ordered spectroscopy NMR DOSY: an all-in-one tool to simultaneously follow side reactions, livingness and molar masses of polymethylmethacrylate by nitroxide mediated polymerization

From diffusion coefficients measurement by NMR DOSY, weight average molar masses M_w, non-reversible termination or livingness of the PMMA chains were simultaneously followed.

Combination of magnetic and enhanced mechanical properties for copolymer-grafted magnetite composite thermoplastic elastomers

Composite thermoplastic elastomers (CTPEs) of magnetic copolymer-grafted nanoparticles (magnetite, Fe3O4) were synthesized and characterized to generate magnetic CTPEs, which combined the magnetic property of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and the thermoplastic elasticity of the grafted amorphous polymer matrix. Fe3O4 nanoparticles served as stiff, multiple physical cross-linking points homogeneously dispersed in the grafted poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) rubbery matrix synthesized via the activators regenerated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization method (ARGET ATRP). The preparation technique for magnetic CTPEs opened a new route toward developing a wide spectrum of magnetic elastomeric materials with strongly enhanced macroscopic properties. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to measure the glass transition temperatures, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to examine thermal stabilities of these CTPEs. The magnetic property could be conveniently tuned by adjusting the content of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in CTPEs. Compared to their linear copolymers, these magnetic CTPEs showed significant increases in tensile strength and elastic recovery. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering measurement was conducted to reveal the microstructural evolution of CTPEs during tensile deformation.