Synthesis of Laterally Linked Poly(tetrahydrofuran)−Poly(methyl methacrylate) Block Copolymers via Use of a “Jekyll and Hyde” Comonomer

Abstract

Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) is an example of a heterobifunctional monomer, a so-called “Jekyll and Hyde” monomer, in that one functional group can be polymerized via conventional free radical polymerization and the other via cationic ring-opening polymerization. Laterally linked diblock copolymers differ from conventional linear diblock copolymers in that the blocks are not linked via their termini but at a point some way along each chain. This architecture has therefore some of the characteristics of a graft copolymer. Free radical copolymerization of a low level of GMA with methyl methacrylate (MMA) yields MMA/GMA copolymers with a few pendent epoxide groups. Likewise cationic ring-opening copolymerization of low levels of GMA with tetrahydrofuran (THF) yields THF/GMA copolymers with a few pendent methacrylate groups. Subsequent cationic polymerization of the first copolymer type with THF, and subsequent free radical polymerization of the second copolymer type with MMA, yields laterally linked block cop...