Following principles of green chemistry: Low ppm photo-ATRP of DMAEMA in water/ethanol mixture

Abstract

Based on the 12 principles of green chemistry, the possibility of the synthesis of cationic PDMAEMA brushes in environmentally favorable aqueous medium, water-alcohol mixture as well as commercially available alcoholic beverages (three types of traditional Polish vodka and spirit) via dually-controlled photo-ATRP was presented. The addition of ethanol to the polymerization medium allowed to obtain a product with narrower molecular weight distribution (Ð = 1.17) than a fully aqueous medium (Ð = 1.29). Moreover, the application of alcoholic beverages of organic origin (e.g. pure grain vodka) increases the synthetic process rate while maintaining a controlled structure of the synthesized product. Furthermore, pH-responsive character of polymer brushes grafted from the silicon wafers (Si-g-PDMAEMA) was confirmed, indicating the application potential for controlled adhesion of proteins or drug release.