Anionic amphiphilic end‐linked conetworks by the combination of quasiliving carbocationic and group transfer polymerizations |
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Authors: | Gergely Kali Theoni K Georgiou Béla Iván Costas S Patrickios |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus;2. Department of Polymer Chemistry and Material Science, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Chemical Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H‐1525 Budapest, Pusztaszeri út 59‐67, P.O. Box 17, Hungary |
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Abstract: | A series of amphiphilic end‐linked conetworks was synthesized by the combination of two “quasiliving” polymerization techniques, quasiliving carbocationic (QLCCP) and group transfer polymerizations (GTP). The hydrophobic monomer was polyisobutylene methacrylate synthesized by the QLCCP of isobutylene and subsequent terminal modification reactions. The hydrophilic monomer was methacrylic acid (MAA) introduced via the polymerization of 2‐tetrahydropyranyl methacrylate followed by acid hydrolysis after (co)network formation. The conetwork syntheses were performed by sequential monomer/crosslinker additions under GTP conditions. All the precursors and the extractables from the conetworks were characterized by gel permeation chromatography and 1H NMR. The resulting polymer conetworks were investigated in terms of their degree of swelling (DS) in aqueous media and in tetrahydrofuran (THF) over the whole range of ionization of the MAA units and in n‐hexane for uncharged conetworks. The DSs in water increased with the degree of ionization (DI) of the MAA units and the hydrophilic content in the conetwork, whereas the DSs in THF increased with the reduction of the DI of the MAA units. The effective pK of the MAA units in the conetworks increased from 8.4 to 10.5 with decreasing MAA content. These findings can facilitate the design of similar unique conetworks with adjustable swelling behavior and composition‐dependent pK values. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 4289–4301, 2009 |
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Keywords: | amphiphiles amphiphilic conetworks cationic polymerization degree of ionization degree of swelling end‐linked conetworks gels group transfer polymerization GTP living polymerization methacrylic acid polyisobutylene quasiliving carbocationic polymerization 2‐tetrahydropyranyl methacrylate |
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