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Controlled Synthesis of Alternating Copolymers by RAFT Copolymerization of N ‐Vinylphthalimide with N ‐Isopropylacrylamide
Author(s) -
Maki Yuya,
Mori Hideharu,
Endo Takeshi
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.200900544
Subject(s) - comonomer , copolymer , chain transfer , polymer chemistry , raft , monomer , chemistry , solvent , materials science , radical polymerization , organic chemistry , polymer
Abstract A nonconjugated N ‐vinyl monomer, N ‐vinylphthalimide (NVPI), was copolymerized with various comonomers via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) process. Two different chain transfer agents (CTAs), O ‐ethyl‐ S ‐(1‐ethoxycarbonyl) ethyldithiocarbonate (CTA 1) and benzyl 1‐pyrrolecarbodithioate (CTA 2), were compared for these copolymerizations with 2,2′‐azobis(isobutyronitrile) as an initiator. The effects of the nature of CTA, the comonomer structure, and solvent on the copolymerization were investigated in terms of the controlled character of the copolymerization and alternating structure. The copolymerization of NVPI and N ‐isopropylacrylamide using CTA 2 in DMF or MeOH afforded well‐defined copolymers with predominantly alternating structure, controlled molecular weights, and low molecular mass distributions.