Abstract
A new type of thermosensitive copolymers composed of isobutyl vinyl ether (IBVE) units and 4-hydroxybutyl vinyl ether (HBVE) units were synthesized within 4.34 s in a microflow platform. The synthesis started from the living cationic copolymerization of IBVE and 4-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy) butyl vinyl ether (BMS-Bu) using cationogen/SnCl4 initiation system in the presence of an added base, resulting in a copolymer with a narrow dispersity. This new platform enabled very low concentrations of added base (0.1 M) and offered highly controllability on fast living cationic copolymerization, making it possible to determine the reactivity ratio of IBVE and BMS-Bu at low-conversion within 0.15 s. Subsequently, after desilylation, poly(IBVE-co-HBVE) with narrow dispersity (Mw/Mn ≈ 1.10) was obtained, presenting strictly controllable LCST behavior. Particularly, the phase transition experienced sharp and almost reversible process, and Tps can be tuned from 22.5 to 38.5 °C by changing the ratio of two monomers in feeding.
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