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Synthesis and Characterization of Amphiphilic Poly(ethylene oxide)‐ block ‐poly(hexyl methacrylate) Copolymers
Author(s) -
Mahajan Surbhi,
Renker Sabine,
Simon Peter F. W.,
Gutmann Jochen S.,
Jain Anurag,
Gruner Sol M.,
Fetters Lewis J.,
Coates Geoffrey W.,
Wiesner Ulrich
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.200390084
Subject(s) - copolymer , polymer chemistry , ethylene oxide , atom transfer radical polymerization , polymerization , materials science , amphiphile , anionic addition polymerization , small angle x ray scattering , methacrylate , micelle , chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer , scattering , aqueous solution , composite material , physics , optics
Abstract We describe the preparation of amphiphilic diblock copolymers made of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(hexyl methacrylate) (PHMA) synthesized by anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide and subsequent atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of hexyl methacrylate (HMA). The first block, PEO, is prepared by anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide in tetrahydrofuran. End capping is achieved by treatment of living PEO chain ends with 2‐bromoisobutyryl bromide to yield a macroinitiator for ATRP. The second block is added by polymerization of HMA, using the PEO macroinitiator in the presence of dibromobis(triphenylphosphine) nickel(II), NiBr 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 , as the catalyst. Kinetics studies reveal absence of termination consistent with controlled polymerization of HMA. GPC data show low polydispersities of the corresponding diblock copolymers. The microdomain structure of selected PEO‐ block ‐PHMA block copolymers is investigated by small angle X‐ray scattering experiments, revealing behavior expected from known diblock copolymer phase diagrams.SAXS diffractograms of PEO‐ block ‐PHMA diblock copolymers with 16, 44, 68 wt.‐% PEO showing spherical (A), cylindrical (B), and lamellae (C) morphologies, respectively.