Thermoresponsive poly(ionic liquid): Controllable RAFT synthesis,thermoresponse, and application in dispersion RAFT polymerization |
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| Authors: | Chonggao Liu Shuang Wang Heng Zhou Chengqiang Gao Wangqing Zhang |
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| Affiliation: | Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Institute of Polymer Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, China |
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| Abstract: | The thermoresponsive poly(ionic liquid) of poly1‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐3‐methylimidozolium tetrafluoroborate] trithiocarbonate (PVBMI]BF4]‐TTC) showing the soluble‐to‐insoluble phase transition in the methanol/water mixture at the upper critical solution temperature (UCST) was synthesized by solution RAFT polymerization and the synthesized PVBMI]BF4]‐TTC was employed as macro‐RAFT agent to mediate the RAFT polymerization under dispersion condition to afford the thermoresponsive diblock copolymer nanoparticles of poly1‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐3‐methylimidozolium tetrafluoroborate]‐b‐polystyrene (PVBMI]BF4]‐b‐PS). The controllable solution RAFT polymerization was achieved as indicated by the linearly increasing polymer molecular weight with the monomer conversion and the narrow molecular weight distribution. The PVBMI]BF4]‐TTC macro‐RAFT agent mediated dispersion polymerization afforded the PVBMI]BF4]‐b‐PS nanoparticles, the size of which was uncorrelated with the polymerization degree of the PVBMI]BF4] block. Several parameters including the polymerization degree, the polymer concentration and the water content in the solvent of the methanol/water mixture were found to be correlated with the UCST of the poly(ionic liquid). The synthesized poly(ionic liquid) is believed to be a new thermos‐responsive polymer and will be useful in material science. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 945–954 |
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| Keywords: | block copolymers dispersion polymerization poly(ionic liquid) reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization thermo‐responsive |
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