One-Pot Synthesis of Arborescent Polystyrene

The step-wise synthesis of arborescent polymers, while able to generate large amounts of materials in good yield, requires isolation and purification of the crude product prior to substrate functionalization. For less-demanding applications not requiring stringent removal of the linear polymer contaminant, a one-pot method was recently developed by Yuan and Gauthier (2006) for the synthesis of arborescent polystyrene without isolation of the reaction intermediates. 

The synthesis of the G1 polymers with substoichiometric activation of the DIB units was sensitive to crosslinking or gelation in the side-chain growth step, due to the attack of residual 

The molecular weight of the side chains in the G1 polymers was conveniently controlled by varying the amount of monomer added to the GO macroinitiator. Polymers with relatively low polydispersity indices (Mw/Mn= 1.1-1.3) and absolute reaching 7 x 10 were thus obtained. 

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Scheme 30.17 One-pot synthesis of arborescent polystyrene by a semibatch process with mixed monomer additions. Source Reproduced with permission from Yuan Z, Gauthier M. Macromolecules 2063 2006 39 [114]. Copyright 2006 American Chemical Society.

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