Fullerene grafted amine‐containing polymers

Abstract

AbstractWe have covalently attached fullerenes to amine containing flexible hydrocarbon polymers such as amino‐ethylene propylene terpolymer (EPDM‐amine) to obtain novel fullerene functionalized polymers. These materials are soluble in solvents such as heptane or tetrahydrofuran (THF), in which the fullerene is essentially insoluble. The reaction of the fullerene and polymer was followed by infra‐red spectroscopy and viscosity measurements. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) scans of EPDM‐amine and Fullerene reacted EPDM‐amine show that the fullerene grafted polymer is thermoxidatively more stable than the original polymer. Furthermore, the fullerene grafted polymer could be reacted further with primary‐tertiary diamines to obtain novel polymers in which the fullerene acts as a bridging group for attaching polar functional groups to nonpolar hydrocarbon polymers.