Preparation of polyethylene block copolymers by a combination of postmetallocene catalysis of ethylene polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization |
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Authors: | Yoshihisa Inoue Krzysztof Matyjaszewski |
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Affiliation: | Center for Macromolecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 |
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Abstract: | The synthesis of block copolymers consisting of a polyethylene segment and either a poly(meth)acrylate or polystyrene segment was accomplished through the combination of postmetallocene-mediated ethylene polymerization and subsequent atom transfer radical polymerization. A vinyl-terminated polyethylene (number-average molecular weight = 1800, weight-average molecular weight/number-average molecular weight =1.70) was synthesized by the polymerization of ethylene with a phenoxyimine zirconium complex as a catalyst activated with methylalumoxane (MAO). This polyethylene was efficiently converted into an atom transfer radical polymerization macroinitiator by the addition of α-bromoisobutyric acid to the vinyl chain end, and the polyethylene macroinitiator was used for the atom transfer radical polymerization of n-butyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, or styrene; this resulted in defined polyethylene-b-poly(n-butyl acrylate), polyethylene-b-poly(methyl methacrylate), and polyethylene-b-polystyrene block copolymers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 496–504, 2004 |
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Keywords: | atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) block copolymers polyethylene (PE) |
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