Atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate mediated by copper bromide - Tetraethyldiethylenetriamine grafted on soluble and recoverable poly(ethylene-b-ethylene glycol) supports
Yq. Shen et Sp. Zhu, Atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate mediated by copper bromide - Tetraethyldiethylenetriamine grafted on soluble and recoverable poly(ethylene-b-ethylene glycol) supports, MACROMOLEC, 34(25), 2001, pp. 8603-8609
Polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (PE-PEG) gra
fted with N,N,N',N'-tetraethyldiethylenetriamine (TEDETA) were used as solu
ble and recoverable supports for copper bromide mediated atom transfer radi
cal polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA). The PE chain length
and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) spacer strongly affected the catalytic act
ivity and control of the polymerization. With PE as a catalyst support, the
catalytic activity and control of the polymerization were low and decrease
d as the PE support's chain length increased. The adverse effects of the PE
support were minimized by using PEG as spacer to graft the catalyst onto t
he PE support. The PE25-PEG(4)-TEDETA-CuBr and PE16-PEG(10)-TEDETA-CuBr wer
e found effectively mediated ATRP of MMA. The recycled PE-supported catalys
ts had low activity because of catalyst side reactions and/or catalyst loss
, but the PE25-PEG(4)-TEDETA-CuBr retained 90% activity upon recycling and
had good control over the polymerization.