Hydrogen-bond-assisted syndiotactic-specific radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide: The solvent effect on the stereospecificity

Radical polymerizations of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) in several solvents at low temperatures in the absence or presence of hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) or 3-methyl-3-pentanol (3Me3PenOH) were examined. The isotacticities of the poly(NIPAAm)s obtained in the absence of HMPA and 3Me3PenOH at lower temperatures slightly increased as the polarities of the solvents used increased. The addition of HMPA significantly induced the syndiotactic-specificity even in polar solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and acetone, although the use of the solvents having proton-donating ability, such as chloroform, prevented the induction of the syndiotactic-specificity, even if their polarities are low. In the presence of 3Me3PenOH, a good correlation between the polarities of the solvents used and the syndiotacticities of the obtained poly(NIPAAm)s was observed, and poly(NIPAAm) with r = 73% was obtained using the toluene/methylcyclohexane mixed solvent.