NEW PHOTORESPONSIVE (METH)ACRYLATE (CO)POLYMERS CONTAINING AZOBENZENEPENDANT SIDEGROUPS WITH CARBOXYLIC AND DIMETHYLAMINO SUBSTITUENTS .2.SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMERS AND COPOLYMERS

The title (co)polymers, used for our investigations on their photoresp onsive behaviour were obtained by free radical (co)polymerization. The monomer was either an acrylate or a methacrylate to which an azobenze ne group, modified with a para-placed dimethylamino or a carboxylic pe ndant group, was attached with or without an aliphatic spacer. The acr ylates were copolymerized with methylacrylate (MA) as comonomer, metha crylates with methylmethacrylate (MMA). The (co)polymerization conditi ons, the characterization of the synthesized (co)polymers and the resu lts of kinetic experiments on some of the homopolymerizations are pres ented. In the latter we have found deviations from normal radical poly merization kinetics, which may be attributed to aggregation of the mon omers. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd