Grafting of n-Butyl Acrylate and N,N'-Dimethyl Acrylamide from Poly(divinylbenzene) Microspheres by RAFT Polymerization

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doi:10.1071/CH05057

Grafting of n-Butyl Acrylate and N,N´-Dimethyl Acrylamide from Poly(divinylbenzene) Microspheres by RAFT Polymerization*

Raymond Joso ^A, Martina H. Stenzel ^A, Thomas P. Davis ^A, Christopher Barner-Kowollik ^A, Leonie Barner ^A ^B

^A Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design, School of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia.
^B Corresponding author. Email: leonie.barner@unsw.edu.au





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Australian Journal of Chemistry 58(6) 468–471 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/CH05057
Submitted: 28 February 2005 Accepted: 13 April 2005 Published online: 14 June 2005

Abstract

N,N´-Dimethyl acrylamide and n-butyl acrylate have been grafted from crosslinked poly(divinylbenzene) core microspheres by both reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and conventional free radical polymerization. The microspheres were prepared by precipitation polymerization utilizing 55 and 80 wt. % divinylbenzene (DVB), respectively. The RAFT agent cumyl dithiobenzoate (CDB) was utilized and grafting was performed in toluene at 80°C with 2,2´-azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as thermal initiator. Particle weights increased up to 6% for poly(n-butyl acrylate) and up to 15% for poly(N,N´-dimethyl acrylamide). Grafting from poly(DVB-55) microspheres results in a higher particle weight increase than grafting from poly(DVB-80) microspheres while using the same RAFT agent concentrations. The particle weight increase is approximately higher by a factor of two. The grafted microspheres were characterized by attenuated total reflection (ATR) IR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

^* This work is taken from the Honours thesis of Raymond Joso and won him the Treloar Prize for the best poster presentation by a young researcher at the 27th Australasian Polymer Symposium in 2004.