Nicholas A. A. Rossi, Yuquan Zou, Mark E. Scott
Jun 25, 2008
Citations
0
Influential Citations
42
Citations
Journal
Macromolecules
Abstract
Copolymers of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) and one of two dioxolane-containing monomers, (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane)methyl acrylate (DDMA) and (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane)methyl acrylamide (DDMAA), were successfully synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. RAFT copolymerization was performed in dimethylformamide (DMF) at 70 °C for 24 h using 4,4′-azobis(4-cyanovaleric acid) as initiator and N-(sodium ethane sulfonic acid)-2-((thiobenzyl)sulfanyl)proprionamide (CTA 1), 4-cyano-4-((thiobenzoyl)sulfanyl)pentanoic acid (CTA 2), or S,S′-bis(α,α′-dimethyl-α′′-acetic acid)trithiocarbonate (CTA 3) as the chain transfer agent (CTA). Control over molecular weight and composition was achieved by altering the CTA concentration and the monomer feed ratio respectively. The resulting copolymers had narrow molecular weight distributions (polydispersity indices typically between 1.2 and 1.3), while monomer conversions were typically 60%. Kinetic st...