Multiple morphologies from amphiphilic graft copolymers based on chitooligosaccharides as backbones and polycaprolactones as branches

A new route to form multiple morphologies was outlined using amphiphilic graft copolymers with interesting biological and pharmacological properties by proper adjustment of backbone and graft chain length.     

Graft copolymers of phenolic novolacs on polyamide backbones

The formation of graft copolymers of novolacs on polyamide backbones was carried out under conditions which permitted product isolation and investigation. Grafting was performed on nylons 11, 610, 66, and 6 with the use of the condensates of formaldehyde with either phenol, p-cresol, or p-nonyl phenol. Physical properties of the reaction products were studied, and the proof of grafting was established by means of chemical, infrared, and NMR investigations.     

Novel amphiphilic graft copolymers bearing hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) backbones and hydrophobic poly(butyl methacrylate) side chains

A novel amphiphilic graft copolymer consisting of hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) backbones and hydrophobic poly(butyl methacrylate) side chains was synthesized by successive atom transfer radical polymerization followed by hydrolysis of poly‐(methoxymethyl acrylate) backbone. A grafting‐from strategy was employed for the synthesis of graft copolymers with narrow molecular weight distributions (polydispersity index < 1.40). Hydrophobic side chains were connected to the backbone through stable C? C bonds instead of ester connections. Poly(methoxymethyl acrylate) backbone was easily hydrolyzed to poly(acrylic acid) backbone with HCl without affecting the hydrophobic side chains. The amphiphilic graft copolymer could form stable micelles in water. The critical micelle concentration in water was determined by a fluorescence probe technique. The morphology of the micelles was preliminarily explored with transmission electron microscopy and was found to be spheres. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6857–6868, 2006     

Polystyrene-nylon 6 graft copolymers

The synthesis of well-defined polystyrene-g-Nylon 6 copolymers is described. The materials were prepared for study of their rheological behaviour and to compare it with the recent findings for 2-phase block copolymer systems.The anionic polymerization of ?-caprolactam in the presence of polystyrene-ethyl acrylate copolymer was chosen as the preparative route. The reasons for the choice were (1) the fact that ester groups are known to be good initiators for the lactam polymerization and (2) that it has been previously established that uniform copolymers can be obtained from styrene and acrylate esters. The present paper describes initial results on preparation and characterization of graft copolymers.It was found that cross-linked materials resulted when the polystyrene copolymer contained more than 1 per cent by weight of ethyl acrylate. At lower ester concentrations, soluble and thermoplastic materials were obtained. The cross-linking reaction was tentatively identified as arising from the presence of the tertiary hydrogen alpha to the ester group. In agreement with this postulate, methacrylate copolymers produced soluble, thermoplastic grafts at concentrations as high as 5 weight per cent.The mechanical properties and the modulus-temperature behaviour of the 2-phase graft copolymer systems are also presented.     

In-situ preparation of graft copolymers

Graft copolymers are closer to supermolecular structures than any other class of polymers. Most grafting reactions proceed in demixed blends or lead in situ to such blends The competition of chemical chain coupling and physical phase separation generates complex phase morphologies that cannot (or not so directly) be produced otherwise. To demonstrate potential and problems of graft copolymer systems, high-impact thermoplastics, block-graft copolymers and reactive blending are discussed.     

Chromatography of amphiphilic graft copolymers

Amphiphilic comb polymers were prepared through grafting poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (MPEG 2000) onto acrylic and methacrylic copolymers. The graft copolymers were purified from unreacted MPEG by partition chromatography on methanol pretreated fibrous cellulose using ethyl acetate and methanol as eluents. The separation was found to depend on the water contents of the cellulose and the eluents. It is proposed that one parameter of importance for the chromatographic separation is the formation of hydrated inverted micelles. The amphiphilic comb polymers were shown by gel chromatography on Sepharose to form high molecular weight aggregates in water. On addition of sodium lauryl sulphate or inorganic salts to the eluent at low ionic strengths these aggregates dissociated and were fractionated by the gel. It was also shown that on GPC in THF solution on Styragel columns the polymers exhibited apparent molecular weights equal or smaller than those of the corresponding backbones. This effect may be a consequence of the graft copolymers having relatively small hydrodynamic volumes, and this idea is supported by the fact that their intrinsic viscosities generally were lower than those of the backbones. However, adsorption on the Styragel columns also may be of importance.     

Synthesis of well-defined all-acrylic graft copolymers

Well defined all-acrylic graft copolymers have been synthesized using the macromonomer technique. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) macromonomers of controlled molecular weight and narrow molecular weight distribution have been synthesized by group transfer polymerization (GTP) using a protected hydroxyl functional initiator. These macromonomers were quantitatively functionalized with a polymerizable acrylic and group and copolymerized under free radical conditions with 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2EHA) to form the desired well defined graft copolymers in high yields. The macromonomers and the copolymers have been characterized by a variety of spectroscopic, chromatographic and thermal analysis methods. Transparent, multiphase materials with glass transition temperature (Tg) values of approximately -65 °C and 115 °C were obtained. The reaction conditions necessary to generate these materials most effectively have also been investigated and are described herein.     

Water-soluble graft copolymers from macromonomer method

Water-soluble graft copolymers of well-defined structure having hydrophobic polymethacrylate branches with different ester groups were prepared by the macromonomer method. Methacrylate macromonomers of controlled molecular weights having a methacryloyloxyl end group were synthesized by radical polymerization of the corresponding monomer in the presence of thioglycolic acid followed by the reaction of glycidyl methacrylate with the terminal carboxyl group. These macromonomers were copolymerized with methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate to prepare tailor-made graft copolymers composed of a hydrophlic backbone and different kinds of hydrophobic branches, which were characterized by elemental analysis, NMR, and GPC. The viscosities of the aqueous solutions of the sodium salts of these graft copolymers were measured. It was found that the viscosity of the dilute solution of the graft copolymer was remarkably high compared with the corresponding random copolymer irrespective of the ester group in branch segments. Solubilizing behavior of Orange-OT in aqueous solutions of the graft copolymers and the random copolymer were also investigated to study the nature of the hydrophobic domain of the graft copolymers.     

Block and graft copolymers of 2-oxazolines

The cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-oxazolines is known to be initiated by alkyl halides, Lewis acids and esters of strong acids. The polymerization proceeds by a living mechanism. Numerous block and graft copolymers have already been described. Recently it was found that chloroformates (R-O-CO-CI) are also useful initiators. The mechanism of the initiation and propagation is discussed. This type of initiators allows the synthesis of different novel two-block and three-block copolymers, star-shape polymers, and a graft copolymer with a polyvinylacetate backbone.     

Morphologies and bridging properties of graft copolymers

Morphologies and bridging properties of graft copolymers in the bulk state were studied by using a real-space algorithm of self-consistent field theory in two dimensions. The phase transition from cylindrical to lamellar phase can be triggered by changing the position of graft points and the number of branches. The fraction of bridged conformation, f(bridge), shows a tendency to decrease with increasing the length of free end blocks, tau1, and the number of branches, m. The value of f(bridge) has a discontinuous drop when the transition from cylindrical to lamellar phase takes place. The relationship between m and the number of bridged chains per unit area, nb, which is associated with the mechanical properties of copolymers, was also examined. It was found that nb increases with increasing m in the cylindrical phase. However, in the lamellar phase, nb decreases when m increases. It is proposed that the position of graft points and the number of branches are two important parameters for material design.     

Large and ultrafast third-order optical nonlinearity of novel copolymers containing fluorene and tetraphenyldiaminobiphenyl units in backbones

A femtosecond time-resolved optical Kerr gate method, using 115 fs laser pulses at 830 nm, has been applied to investigate the third-order nonlinearity of two novel copolymers containing fluorene and tetraphenyldiaminobiphenyl units in their backbones. Ultrafast off-resonant optical Kerr responses have been observed and the magnitude of the second-order hyperpolarizability was measured as large as 10⁻³⁰ esu. The origin of the extraordinary large value was explored and compared to other organic materials.     

Effect of diffusion on rates and molecular weights in graft polymerization

A theoretical analysis has been made of the graft polymerization process in terms of the quantitative interrelationship between the initiation rate R_i, the k_p/k_t^1/ ratio of the monomer, the equilibrium solubility M of the monomer in the polymer, the polymer film thickness L, and the diffusivity D of the monomer in the polymer. It is shown how the values of these parameters in any grafting system interact to lead to diffusion-controlled graft polymerization. Whether graft polymerization is diffusion-free or diffusion-controlled depends on the values of K_p, d, k_p/k_p^1/2, and L as gathered in the parameter A = [(K_p/k_t^1/2)R_i, D,/^1/2] L/2. When the values of the various terms are such that A is less than 0.1 (i.e., D is large while R_i, k_p, and L are small), the reaction is diffusion-free. When A is greater than 3 (i.e., D is small while R_i, k_p, and L are large), the reaction is diffusion-controlled. The derived equations showing the relationship between kinetic and diffusional parameters are theoretically applicable to all grafting systems, i.e., for all monomer-polymer combinations under all conditions of reaction temperature, radiation intensity and polymer film thickness. The theoretical analysis has been verified for the rate and degree of polymerization for the radiation-induced graft polymerization of styrene to polyethylene.     

Synthesis of graft copolymers of xyloglucan and acrylonitrile

Xyloglucan (XG), a water‐soluble food grade polysaccharide is reported as a substrate for the graft copolymerization of acrylonitrile (AN). XG was extracted from tamarind seed mucilage. Polymerization was initiated both by ceric ion in aqueous medium under N₂ atmosphere and with microwave (MW) irradiation. The progress of the reaction was monitored gravimetrically. The effect of different reaction parameters such as monomer concentration, level of ceric ammonium nitrate/HNO₃ (CAN) initiator, reaction time and temperature, and MW power on the percent grafting (PG) was studied. Grafting of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) onto XG was confirmed by Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques have been used to study the thermal and morphological changes in the materials. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carbazole-modified blue light-emitting copolymers with the backbones integrated by diphenyloxadiazole,fluorene, and triphenylamine

Two new blue light-emitting polymers, poly{[2,5-bis(4-phenylene)-1,3,4-oxadiazole]-[9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-diyl]-[N-(4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)-N,N-bis(p-phenylene)aniline]} (POFPA) and poly{[2,5-bis(4-phenylene)-1,3,4-oxadiazole]-[9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-diyl]-[4-(3,6-(di-9H-carbazol-9-yl)-9H-carbazol-9-yl)-N,N-bis(p-phenylene)-aniline]} (POFCPA), were synthesized by Suzuki coupling reactions. By GPC analysis against a linear polystyrene standard POFPA and POFCPA were found to have M_n of 1.68 × 10⁴ and 3.70 × 10³, respectively. In contrast to POFPA, the main absorption peak of POFCPA in dilute toluene solution was blue-shifted by Δλ = 26 nm owing to its backbone of relatively shorter π-conjugation length and more carbazole units in side chain. The absolute fluorescence quantum yield (Φ_f) of POFCPA in dilute toluene solution was determined as 73%, much higher than that of POFPA (Φ_f ≈ 58.9%) measured under the same conditions. An electroluminescence device based on POFCPA displays a stable blue emission having color coordinates of (0.15, 0.20), a maximum brightness of 4762 cd/m², and a maximum current efficiency of 1.79 cd/A. By using this polymer as the host material doped with 1 wt.% 4,4′-bis[2-(4-(N,N-diphenylamino)phenyl)vinyl]biphenyl, the achieved highest brightness, maximum current efficiency and maximum power efficiency are 13,613 cd/m², 3.38 cd/A, and1.84 lm/W, respectively.     

Modeling molecular weight distribution of comb-branched graft copolymers

Grafting one type polymer onto a different polymer type may yield a comb-branched copolymer. The branching density has a significant effect on its overall molecular weight distribution. A general model is derived to describe the bivariate distribution of molecular weight and branching density for such comb copolymers. The model is applicable for various grafting mechanisms provided the side chains are randomly grafted onto the backbone. The determining parameters are the molecular weight distributions of backbone and side chains, and the branching density. Analytical expressions are obtained for the cases of the side chains having uniform and Schulz–Zimm distributions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 705–714, 1998     

Synthesis of graft copolymers with polyisobutylene branch chains

<正>The copolymerization of 4-vinylbenzyl chloride(VBC) and vinyl acetate(VAC) was carried out in toluene at 75℃via radical polymerization using 2,2'-azo-bis-(isobutyronitrile)(AIBN) as an initiator.The random copolymers of poly(4-vinylbenzyl chloride-co-vinyl acetate)(P(VBC-co-VAC)) with number average molecular weight(M_n) from 2000 to 6900,relatively narrow molecular weight distribution(MWD,M_w/M_n ca.2.0) and with different copolymer composition of 4-vinylbenzyl chloride(VBC) from 17 mol%to 62 mol%could be obtained.The P(VBC-co-VAC) copolymers with an average number of 7 to 13 initiating sites of benzyl chloride per macromolecule could be used for the cationic polymerization of isobutylene(IB).The cationic polymerizations of IB were further conducted by using P(VBC-co-VAC) copolymers as macroinitiators in conjunction with TiCl_4 at -40℃in CH_2Cl_2.The effects of VBC/TiCl_4(molar ratio) on monomer conversion,M_n and MWD of the resultant copolymers were investigated under 3 sets of conditions.It is found that P(VBC-co-VAC)-g-PIB copolymers with relatively narrow MWD(M_w/M_n ca.2.0) and with terminal tert-chlorine functional groups in branched PIB chains could be successfully synthesized when VBC/TiCl_4(molar ratio) was set in the range from 0.10 to 1.12.The unimodal GPC curve of the P(VBC-co-VAC)-g-PIB copolymers by RI detector was almost in harmony with the GPC curve by UV detector.The TEM image of the P(VBC-co-VAC)-g-PIB copolymer stained by RuO indicated that the copolymer formed a two-phase morphology with P(VBC-co-VAC)-rich domains of 20-100 nm in size tethered by PIB branch segments.     

Grain boundary relaxation phenomena in block and graft copolymers

Summary The grain boundary relaxation phenomena, which have been found in the mechanical relaxation of the cast films of a series ofgraft copolymers ofpoly(methyl acrylate) with styrene, are examined again, in order to understand its relaxation mechanism, by using some particular series of heterogeneous systems of two components having different interaction between the two phases and, subsequently, different grain boundary structure; i. e., two series of poly(vinyl acetate) filled with two types of carbon blacks having relatively high and low surface activities, respectively, a series ofmechanical mixtures ofpoly(vinyl acetate) with polystyrene, and a series of styrene-isoprene-styrene tri-block copolymers.The grain boundary relaxation phenomena are again detected for the series of the tri-block copolymers but definitely not for the series of the mechanical mixtures, suggesting that the grain boundary relaxation phenomena must arise not from the heterogeneous structures themselves but from characteristic arrangements of molecular chains at the boundary of the two phases. That is, there must be a considerably strong interaction between the two phases, and there exists an intermediate phase in which the polymer segments of soft component are rigidified while the other polymer segments of hard component are softened. In other words, there must be a cooperative motions of chain segments of the two components to produce a mechanical relaxation under a certain environmental condition, such as temperature and time scale of observation.

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Zusammenfassung Die Korngrenzenrelaxationsphänomene, die in der mechanischen Relaxation einer Serie von aus Graft-Copolymeren von Polymethylacrylat mit Styrol gefunden wurden, wurden erneut geprüft, um den Relaxations-mechanismus zu verstehen, unter Verwendung einer besonderen Serie von heterogenen Systemen zweier Komponenten, die verschiedene Wechselwirkungen zwischen den zwie Phasen besitzen und deshalb verschiedene Korgrenzenstrukturen. Das heißt, wir verwendeten zwei Serien von Polyvinylacetaten, gefüllt mit zwei Rußtypen von vergleichsweise hoher und niedriger Oberflächenaktivität, eine Serie von mechanischen Mischungen aus Polyvinylacetat mit Polystyrol und eine Serie von Styrol-Isopren-Dreiblockcopolymeren. Die Korngrenzenrelaxationsphänomene, wurden für die Serie der Dreiblockcopolymeren wiederum festgestellt, aber definitiv nicht für die Serie der mechanischen Mischungen. Das läßt vermuten, daß Korngrenzenrelaxation nicht von heterogenen Strukturen selbst, sondern von charakteristischen Anordnungen der molekularen Kette an der Grenze von zwei Phasen herrührt. Das heißt, es muß eine beträchtlich strenge Wechselwirkung zwischen den zwei Phasen bestehen, und es muß eine Zwischenphase existieren, in welcher die Polymersegmente der weichen Komponente versteift werden, während die anderen Polymersegmente der harten Komponente erweicht werden. Mit anderen Worten, es müssen cooperative Bewegungen von Kettensegmenten der zwei Komponenten vorhanden sein, um eine mechannische Relaxation unter gewissen Umgebungsbedingungenzuerzeugen, Umgebungsbedingungen wie Temperatur und Zeitskala der Beobachtungen.

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With 6 figures and 13 tables

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Presented at the 20th Annual Symposium on Rheology, Japan, Fukui, Oct. 18, 1972.