Temporally Controlled Ultrasonication‐Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization in Miniemulsion

Abstract

AbstractDue to the increasing requirement for more environmentally and industrially relevant approaches in macromolecules synthesis, ultrasonication‐mediated atom transfer radical polymerization (sono‐ATRP) in miniemulsion media is applied for the first time to obtain precisely defined poly(n‐butyl acrylate) (PBA) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) homopolymers, and poly(n‐butyl acrylate)‐block‐poly(tert‐butyl acrylate) (PBA‐b‐PtBA) and poly(n‐butyl acrylate)‐block‐poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA‐b‐PBA) copolymers. It is demonstrated in the reaction setup with strongly hydrophilic catalyst copper(II) bromide/tris(2‐pyridylmethyl)amine (CuIIBr2/TPMA) responsible for two principal mechanisms – interfacial and ion‐pair catalysis reflecting single‐catalyst approach. This solution turns out to be an excellent tool in controlled preparation of well‐defined polymers with narrow molecular weight distribution (up to Ð = 1.28) and preserves chain‐end functionality (DCF = 0.02% to 0.32%). Temporal control over the polymer chain growth is successfully conducted by turning the ultrasonication on/off. Taking into consideration long OFF stage (92.5 h) during ultrasonication‐induced polymerization in miniemulsion, synthesis is efficiently reinitiated without any influence on controlled characteristics maintaining the precise structure of received PBA homopolymers, confirmed by narrow molecular weight distribution (Ð = 1.26) and high retention of chain‐end functionality (DCF = 0.01%). This procedure constitutes an excellent simple and eco‐friendly approach in preparation of functional polymeric materials.