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Rapid Synthesis and MALDI‐ToF Characterization of Poly(ethylene oxide) Multiarm Star Polymers
Author(s) -
Doycheva Maria,
BergerNicoletti Elena,
Wurm Frederik,
Frey Holger
Publication year - 2010
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.200900377
Subject(s) - deprotonation , ethylene oxide , polymer , polymer chemistry , molecular mass , chemistry , oxide , star polymer , star (game theory) , materials science , organic chemistry , copolymer , physics , enzyme , ion , astrophysics
Multiarm PEO star polymers with a purely aliphatic polyether structure have been synthesized using hyperbranched polyglycerol (PG) with different molecular weights as a multifunctional initiator. Different degrees of deprotonation of the initiator were studied with respect to molecular weight control. The results show that the degree of deprotonation is a crucial parameter for the synthesis of well‐defined polymers with controlled molecular weights. Partial deprotonation of the PG hydroxyl groups (5–8%) was proven to represent an optimum for the synthesis of star polymers with molecular masses close to the theoretical values. Molecular weights of the stars ranged between 9 000 and 30 000 g · mol −1 . MALDI‐ToF spectra confirmed that the PEO arms in the star polymers possess homogeneous lengths.