Premium
Diffusion‐Regulated Phase‐Transfer Catalysis for Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate in an Aqueous/Organic Biphasic System
Author(s) -
Ding Mingqiang,
Jiang Xiaowu,
Peng Jinying,
Zhang Lifen,
Cheng Zhenping,
Zhu Xiulin
Publication year - 2015
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.201400639
Subject(s) - polymerization , methyl methacrylate , catalysis , atom transfer radical polymerization , monomer , polymer chemistry , aqueous solution , aqueous two phase system , chemistry , materials science , chemical engineering , polymer , organic chemistry , engineering
A concept based on diffusion‐regulated phase‐transfer catalysis (DRPTC) in an aqueous‐organic biphasic system with copper‐mediated initiators for continuous activator regeneration is successfully developed for atom transfer radical polymerization (ICAR ATRP) (termed DRPTC‐based ICAR ATRP here), using methyl methacrylate (MMA) as a model monomer, ethyl α‐bromophenylacetate (EBrPA) as an initiator, and tris(2‐pyridylmethyl)amine (TPMA) as a ligand. In this system, the monomer and initiating species in toluene (organic phase) and the catalyst complexes in water (aqueous phase) are simply mixed under stirring at room temperature. The trace catalyst complexes transfer into the organic phase via diffusion to trigger ICAR ATRP of MMA with ppm level catalyst content once the system is heated to the polymerization temperature (75 °C). It is found that well‐defined PMMA with controlled molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions can be obtained easily. Furthermore, the polymerization can be conducted in the presence of limited amounts of air without using tedious degassed procedures. After cooling to room temperature, the upper organic phase is decanted and the lower aqueous phase is reused for another 10 recycling turnovers with ultra low loss of catalyst and ligand loading. At the same time, all the recycled catalyst complexes retain nearly perfect catalytic activity and controllability, indicating a facile and economical strategy for catalyst removal and recycling.