Preparation of Magnetic Polyimidazolium Microspheres by Surface-Initiated ATRP

Abstract

Narrow-disperse magnetic microspheres were prepared by alkaline coprecipitation of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions within poly (acrylic acid–divinylbenzene) microspheres that were prepared by distillation–precipitation copolymerization. Magnetic microspheres with polyimidazolium that contain imidazolium groups were prepared by graft copolymerization of vinylimidazole and 1-chlorobutane via surface-initiated atom transferradical polymerization (SI-ATRP) from the magnetic microsphere surfaces. The magnetic polyimidazolium microspheres with an initiator group for copper-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization, well defined diblock copolymer brushes consisting of polyimidazolium were obtained by using the initial homopolymer brushes as the macro initiators for the ATRP of the second monomer. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) displayed that the average particle size was 20 nm in diameter with some nanoaggregation observed. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) characterizated the surface modification process of magnetic microspheres (MMPs).