Atom transfer radical copolymerization of methyl methacrylate with N-cyclohexylmaleimide

Atom transfer radical polymerization has been applied to simultaneously cop olymerize methyl methacrylate (MMA) and N-cyclohexylmaleimide (NCMI). Molec ular weight behaviour and kinetic study on the copolymerization with the Cu Br/bipyridine(bpy) catalyst system in anisole indicate that MMA/NCMI copoly merization behaves in a 'living' fashion. The influence of several factors, such as temperature, solvent, initiator and monomer ratio, on the copolyme rization were investigated. Copolymerization of MMA and NCMI in the presenc e of CuBr/bpy using cyclohexanone as a solvent instead of anisole displayed poor control. The monomer reactivity ratios were evaluated as r(NCMI) = 0. 26 and r(MMA) = 1.35. The glass transition temperature of the resulting cop olymer increases with increasing NCMI concentration. The thermal stability of plexiglass could be improved through copolymerization with NCMI. (C) 200 0 Society of Chemical Industry.