Thermoresponsive diblock copolymer micellar macro‐RAFT agent‐mediated dispersion RAFT polymerization and synthesis of temperature‐sensitive ABC triblock copolymer nanoparticles |
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Authors: | Chengqiang Gao Quanlong Li Yongliang Cui Fei Huo Shentong Li Yang Su Wangqing Zhang |
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Affiliation: | Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento‐Organic Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, , Tianjin, 300071 China |
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Abstract: | The micellar macro‐RAFT agent‐mediated dispersion polymerization of styrene in the methanol/water mixture is performed and synthesis of temperature‐sensitive ABC triblock copolymer nanoparticles is investigated. The thermoresponsive diblock copolymer of poly(N,N‐dimethylacrylamide)‐block‐poly[N‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐N,N‐diethylamine] trithiocarbonate forms micelles in the polymerization solvent at the polymerization temperature and, therefore, the dispersion RAFT polymerization undergoes as similarly as seeded dispersion polymerization with accelerated polymerization rate. With the progress of the RAFT polymerization, the molecular weight of the synthesized triblock copolymer of poly(N,N‐dimethylacrylamide)‐block‐poly[N‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐N,N‐diethylamine]‐b‐polystyrene linearly increases with the monomer conversion, and the PDI values of the triblock copolymers are below 1.2. The dispersion RAFT polymerization affords the in situ synthesis of the triblock copolymer nanoparticles, and the mean diameter of the triblock copolymer nanoparticles increases with the polymerization degree of the polystyrene block. The triblock copolymer nanoparticles contain a central thermoresponsive poly [N‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐N,N‐diethylamine] block, and the soluble‐to‐insoluble ‐‐transition temperature is dependent on the methanol content in the methanol/water mixture. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 2155–2165 |
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Keywords: | block copolymers dispersion RAFT polymerization lower critical solution temperature (LCST) reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) stimuli‐sensitive polymers |
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