E. R. Jones, M. Semsarilar, A. Blanazs
Jun 13, 2012
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Quality indicators
Journal
Macromolecules
Abstract
Benzyl methacrylate (BzMA) is polymerized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) chemistry under alcoholic dispersion polymerization conditions in ethanol using a poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMA) chain transfer agent (CTA) at 70 °C. In principle, polymerization-induced self-assembly can lead to the formation of either spherical micelles, worm-like micelles, or vesicles, with the preferred morphology being dictated by the hydrophilic–hydrophobic balance of the PDMA–PBzMA diblock copolymer chains. Very high monomer conversions (>99%) are routinely obtained within 24 h as judged by 1H NMR studies. Moreover, THF GPC analyses confirmed that relatively low polydispersities (Mw/Mn < 1.30) are achieved, indicating reasonably good pseudoliving character. A detailed phase diagram was constructed using a PDMA31 macro-CTA by systematically varying both the target degree of polymerization of the PBzMA block and the total solids concentration of the reaction solution. This phase dia...