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RAFT Polymerization of a Biorenewable/Sustainable Monomer via a Green Process
Author(s) -
Versteeg Friso G.,
Hegeman Niels C.,
Sebakhy Khaled O.,
Picchioni Francesco
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.202200045
Subject(s) - polymer , monomer , dispersity , supercritical fluid , polymer chemistry , polymerization , materials science , chain transfer , chemical engineering , glass transition , radical polymerization , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering
A biorenewable polymer is synthesized via a green process using the RAFT principle for the first time in supercritical CO 2 at 300 bar and 80 °C. α ‐Methylene‐ γ ‐butyrolactone polymers of various chain lengths and molecular weights are obtained. The molecular weights vary from 10 000 up to 20 000 with low polydispersity indexes (PDI <1.5). Furthermore, the monomer conversion in supercritical CO 2 is substantially higher, respectively 85% for ScCO 2 compared to ≈65% for polymerizations conducted in dimethyl formamide (DMF) solvent. Chain extensions are carried out to confirm the livingness of the formed polymers in ScCO 2 . This opens up future possibilities of the formation of different polymer architectures in ScCO 2 . The polymers synthesized in ScCO 2 have glass transition temperature ( T g ) values ranging from 155 up to 190 °C. However, the presence of residual monomer encapsulated inside the formed polymer matrix affects the glass transition of the polymer that is lowered by increasing monomer concentrations. Hence, additional research is required to eliminate the remaining monomer concentration in the polymer matrix in order to arrive at the optimal T g .