The gel-like structure of polymer in thin films: an explanation of the thickness dependent glass transition?

The understanding of the origin of the thickness (h) dependent glass transition temperature, T_g(h), reported over the last decade for supported and freely standing thin polymer films, is still unclear. Indeed, the spin-coating process, the interfacial adsorption as well as the freezing-in of non-equilibrated chain conformations and orientations caused by fast solvent evaporation could result in partially disentangled chains which can be depicted as a gel-like structure. The effect of PMMA stereoregularity on the chain conformation and orientation and its persistence length in thin films is discussed. Moreover, striking evolutions of T_g(h) by changing the nature of the solvent support the assumption of a specific organisation of the chains in thin films which can hold over thickness far above Rg.     

Liquid Adsorption Chromatography Separation of Star Poly(methyl methacrylate)s

Liquid adsorption chromatography, in combination with full adsorption–desorption and precipitation–redissolution techniques, is a powerful procedure for the fractionation of mixtures in the synthesis of star polymers. An easy separation of 4‐ and 6‐arm star poly(methyl methacrylate)s from their single arm precursors could be carried out by both procedures, with differences of separation efficiency also depending on the molecular weight of the precursor and the number of arms.

Size exclusion chromatograms of retained and eluted fractions obtained by liquid adsorption chromatography/full adsorption–desorption separation with a tetrahydrofuran/cyclohexane eluent system (53:47 wt.‐%) for a crude reaction mixture (dotted line) containing a 4‐arm star PMMA polymer and a single‐arm precursor (solid lines a and b, respectively).     

Synthesis of halogen-free amino-functionalized polymethyl methacrylate by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP)

In order to obtain amino-terminated polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA-NH₂) free of halogen we used the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) to polymerize methyl methacrylate (MMA) in presence of an initiator containing an alkyl bromide unit and a protected amine functional group. The use of CuBr / N,N,N′,N′′,N′′-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) as co-catalyst system results in a polymer free of halogen due to hydrogen transfer from PMDETA to the growing polymer chain. However, side reactions occur affecting the typically “living” character of the ATRP. The measured molecular weights are consistently higher than the theoretical ones and the molecular weight distributions are relatively broad.