Abstract
A novel way to prepare block copolymers is presented. Copolymerizations of α-methylstyrene (AMS) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) were carried out. The resulting copolymers, designated as poly(AMS-co-GMA) (PAG), were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT/IR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), 1H NMR and thermogravimetric analyses (TGA). Based on TGA, two main degradations with two inflection points were observed at 178.20 °C and 342.1 °C in PAG, while only one degradation with an inflection point at 305.7 °C on homopolymer of GMA (PGMA), indicating the depolymerization started with scission of weak bonds in PAG. When heated, the scission of those weak bonds gave birth to chain radicals, which could further initiate the polymerization of other monomers. On the basis of this finding, a series of block copolymers, PAG-block-PMMA (Mn=63100 g/mol, Mw/Mn=1.77) and PAG-block-PSt (Mn=44700 g/mol, Mw/Mn=1.63), were prepared by simply heating PAG in the presence of the second monomer. This simple method is expected to be applied to kinds of monomers, and it might be suitable even for industrial applications.
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Jiang, S., Deng, J. & Yang, W. Block Copolymers Prepared by Free Radical Polymerization Using α-Methylstyrene-containing Precopolymer as Macroinitiator. Polym J 40, 543–548 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1295/polymj.PJ2007192
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1295/polymj.PJ2007192
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