Polyisobutylene RAFT CTA by a Click Chemistry Site Transformation Approach: Synthesis of Poly(isobutylene-b-N-isopropylacrylamide)

Abstract

A novel block copolymer, composed of polyisobutylene (PIB) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) segments, was synthesized. The PIB block was prepared via quasiliving cationic polymerization and end-functionalized by in-situ quenching to yield telechelic halogen-terminated PIB. Azido functionality was obtained by displacement of the terminal halogen through nucleophilic substitution, which was confirmed by both 1H and 13C NMR. Coupling of an alkyne-functional chain transfer agent (CTA) to azido PIB was successfully accomplished through a copper-catalyzed click reaction. Structure of the resulting PIB-based macro-CTA was verified with 1H NMR, FTIR, and GPC, whereas coupling reaction kinetics were monitored by real-time variable temperature (VT) 1H NMR. Subsequently, the function of this macro-CTA was demonstrated by RAFT polymerization of NIPAM for synthesis of the second block. RAFT kinetics was investigated under a variety of reaction conditions using VT NMR, and the resulting block copolymers were ch...