Iq. Li et al., BLOCK-COPOLYMER PREPARATION USING SEQUENTIAL NORMAL LIVING RADICAL POLYMERIZATION TECHNIQUES/, Macromolecules, 30(18), 1997, pp. 5195-5199
Anionic and nitroxide-mediated (NM) radical polymerization works well
for styrene but not for acrylates. We have overcome this problem and s
uccessfully prepared styrene-b-n-butyl acrylate (S-BA), styrene-b-meth
yl methacrylate (S-MMA), styrene-b-isoprene (S-IP), and styrene-alt-ac
rylonitrile-b-isoprene (SAN-IP) polymers using a sequential normal/liv
ing radical polymerization scheme. Clear (S-IP and SAN-IF) to transluc
ent (S-BA and S-MMA) films were obtained having microphase-separated p
olymer morphology. GPC studies and chemical digestion of the IP segmen
ts of S-IP and SAN-IF block copolymers confirmed their block structure
. The sequential normal/living radical polymerization approach provide
s a new route to synthesize block polymers that have previously proven
very difficult to make.