Atom transfer radical polymerization of 2-methoxy ethyl acrylate and its block copolymerization with acrylonitrile

2-Methoxy ethyl acrylate (MEA), a functional monomer was homopolymerized using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technique with methyl 2-bromopropionate (MBP) as initiator and CuBr/N,N,N′,N′,N″-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) as catalyst system; polymerization was conducted in bulk at 60 °C and livingness was established by chain extension reaction. The kinetics as well as molecular weight distribution data indicated towards the controlled nature of polymerization. The initiator efficiency and the effect of initiator concentration on the rate of polymerization were investigated. The polymerization remained well-controlled even at low catalyst concentration of 10% relative to initiator. The influence of different solvents, viz. ethylene carbonate and toluene on the polymerization was investigated. End-group analysis for the determination of high degree of functionality of PMEA was determined with the help of ¹³C{¹H} NMR spectra. Chain extension experiment was conducted with PMEA macroinitiator for ATRP of acrylonitrile (AN) in ethylene carbonate at 70 °C using CuCl/bpy as catalyst system. The composition of individual blocks in PMEA-b-PAN copolymers was determined using ¹H NMR spectra.