Rational synthesis of epoxy-functional spheres, worms and vesicles by RAFT aqueous emulsion polymerisation of glycidyl methacrylate

Fiona L Hatton,Steven P Armes,Matthew J Derry

doi:10.1039/d0py01097a

Fiona L Hatton, Steven P Armes + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1039/d0py01097a

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Abstract

The rational synthesis of epoxy-functional diblock copolymer nano-objects has been achieved by RAFT aqueous emulsion polymerisation of glycidyl methacrylate under mild conditions (50 °C, pH 7) to preserve the epoxy groups.

Highlights

Block copolymer self-assembly in solution can produce various types of organic nanoparticles that in principle can offer a range of potential applications.[1]
The aqueous solubility of Glycidyl methacrylate (GlyMA) (22 g dm−3 at 50 °C) is comparable to that of hydroxybutyl methacrylate (HBMA) or methoxyethyl methacrylate (MOEMA),[47,63] access to epoxy-functional worms or vesicles might be expected for such Polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA) formulations
A kinetic study of the Reversible addition– fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) solution polymerisation of Glycerol monomethacrylate (GMA) in ethanol using 2-cyano-2-propyl dithiobenzoate (CPDB) at 70 °C was conducted by sampling the reaction mixture periodically, see Fig. S1.† First-order kinetics and a linear increase in Mn with conversion were observed when targeting a degree of polymerisation (DP) of 31.26 A dithiobenzoatecapped PGMA28 precursor (Mn = 8300 g mol−1, Đ = 1.15) was 6346 | Polym

Summary

Introduction

Block copolymer self-assembly in solution can produce various types of organic nanoparticles that in principle can offer a range of potential applications.[1]. The RAFT aqueous emulsion polymerisation of GlyMA was monitored in situ using SAXS to monitor the nucleation and growth of PGMA48-PGlyMA100 diblock copolymer spheres.

Results

Conclusion