Graft copolymer synthesis with living radical polymerization

A dense polymer brush is obtained using the grafting from techniques. Surface-initiated polymerization in conjunction with a living polymerization technique is one of the most useful synthetic routes for the precise design and functionalization of the surfaces of various solid materials with well-defined polymers and copolymers. Above all, surface-initiated living radical polymerization (LRP) is particularly promising due to its simplicity and versatility and it has been applied for the synthesis of Au NPs. 

The counter radical method can also be used for graft copolymer synthesis. Solomon et al. propose two routes [51]. The first one involves copolymerization with a functional monomer such as methacrylate containing pendant al-koxyamine. In the second route, the alkoxyamine is grafted onto a polymer precursor used in a second step to initiate the living polymerization of a second monomer. PBd-g-PMA is prepared this way from PBd. 

A similar well-defined graft copolymer consisting of polystyrene main chain and branches (G-7) can be prepared simply via repetition of copper-catalyzed living radical polymerizations.209 Thus, the synthesis starts with the copolymerization of styrene and />(acetoxymethy 1)styrene or />(methoxymethyl)sty-rene, followed by bromination of the substituent into the benzyl bromide moiety, which then initiates the copper-catalyzed radical polymerization of styrene to give graft polymers with 8—14 branches. 

The development of PPE synthetic chemistry makes the synthesis of PPEs with various structures possible. Recently, PPE-based polymers with different topological structures including linear random copolymers, block copolymers, star polymers, miktoarm polymers, and brush and hyperbranched polymers have been synthesized. Among them, linear homopolymers or random copolymers of PPEs are perhaps the most studied. Different block copolymers with AB, ABA, and ABC architectures have been synthesized by controlled ROP. By the combination of ROP of PPE with other controlled polymerization methods, such as living radical polymerization, or click chemistry, more complex architectures including miktoarm, comb, or graft copolymers can be synthesized. The richness of structures has allowed the convenient adjustment of material properties of PPE for biomedical applications. 

A radical initiator based on the oxidation adduct of an alkyl-9-BBN (47) has been utilized to produce poly(methylmethacrylate) (48) (Fig. 31) from methylmethacrylate monomer by a living anionic polymerization route that does not require the mediation of a metal catalyst. The relatively broad molecular weight distribution (PDI = (MJM ) 2.5) compared with those in living anionic polymerization cases was attributed to the slow initiation of the polymerization.69 A similar radical polymerization route aided by 47 was utilized in the synthesis of functionalized syndiotactic polystyrene (PS) polymers by the copolymerization of styrene.70 The borane groups in the functionalized syndiotactic polystyrenes were transformed into free-radical initiators for the in situ free-radical graft polymerization to prepare s-PS-g-PMMA graft copolymers. 

LRP is a powerful tool for the synthesis of complex polymer architectures as was shown above. However, in some cases it is desirable to combine structures that are hardly or not at all accessible via radical polymerization techniques. In such cases it may be beneficial to combine LRP with another polymerization mechanism. Many examples have been reported so far. A few examples will be listed here. Polystyrene-6-pol3risobutylene-6-polystyrene was synthesized via a combination of living cationic polymerization and ATRP (98). Polyolefin Graft Copolymers (qv) were synthesized by first polymerizing alkoxyamine-substituted olefins via metallocene catalysis, and subsequent polymerization of vinyl monomers via... 

Considerable progress has been made in the synthesis of tailor-made block copolymers, and to some extend also to the corresponding graft copolymers, by living ionic polymerization, controlled free-radical polymerization and quite recently by non-covalent coupling techniques. Numerous examples of linear water-soluble A-B and A-B-A structures were described in addition to the possibility of functionalization of these copolymers with specific groups, such as reactive double bonds, ionic groups, fluorescence labels, either at the chain ends and/or at the junction of the blocks. 

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