Ultrafast copper-mediated controlled copolymerization of acrylamides: Multifunctional polymers

<p>Fehaid M Alsubaie</p>

Ultrafast copper-mediated controlled copolymerization of acrylamides: Multifunctional polymers

Fehaid M Alsubaie

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, KSA

: J Nanomater Mol Nanotechnol

Abstract

The aqueous copper-mediated controlled copolymerization of a wide variety of acrylamide monomers is presented. The homo and/or copolymerization of acrylamides proceed in a controlled manner as is evident from good first order kinetics, linear evolution of number average molecular weight (Mn) with conversion and narrow Molecular Weight Distributions (MWDs). Full disproportionation of Cu(I)Br in the presence of Me6TREN in water was exploited to generate reactive Cu(0) and [Cu(II) (Me6TREN)]Br2 in situ resulting in unprecedented rates of reaction whilst maintaining control over chain lengths and narrow dispersity (MWDs < 1.10) High conversion (>99%) can be attained in as low as minutes and a range of chain lengths (DP = 10-100) is targeted, exhibiting low dispersity values and good agreement between theoretical and experimental values. Remarkably, high chain end functionality is maintained through the polymerization processes, which imply that the chain extensions can be undergoing to full conversion or block copolymerization via iterative monomer addition after full conversion. In the block copolymer system, the monomer sequence is successfully varied furnishing complex compositions with functional groups placed in different positions into the polymer backbone. Water is utilized as the solvent for the preparation of block copolymers of various acrylamides at or below ambient temperature implying compatibility with biological systems. Control over monomer sequence and polymer composition can be conducted in one pot without the need to purify the macroinitiators or compromise the final dispersity.