Cellulose‐based macroinitiator for crosslinked poly(butyl methacrylate‐co‐pentaerythritol triacrylate) oil‐absorbing materials by SET‐LRP

Cellulose produced from cotton fibers was used as substrate for synthesis of oil‐absorbing materials by single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization. The cellulose macroinitiator was prepared by esterification of hydroxyl group with 2‐bromoisobutyryl bromide (BiBB), followed by grafting with butyl methacrylate (BMA) and pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) to render a three‐dimensional architecture. The polymerization was catalyzed by Cu(0) powder/hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and performed in N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF). Effects of cellulose, catalyst, reaction temperature, and time were investigated in detail. The maximum oil absorption to chloroform and toluene could reach 29.0 and 15.4 g·g^?1, respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013