Hyperbranched polymers are of particular interest for their potential in applications involving drug delivery, imaging, reactive coatings, among others. Several methods are typically employed to prepare such polymers, but one that has attracted recent attention due to its ease of experimental setup is the copolymerization of mono- and multivinyl monomers in the presence of a chain transfer agent, which effectively limits the number of crosslinker units incorporated per growing chain. In this study, CBr4 was employed as the chain transfer agent. The obtained polymers with multiple alkyl bromide end groups, can be used as macroinitiators for ATRP. Furthermore, the use of monomer with reactive functional groups (glycidyl methacrylate) provides a synthetic route to a universal precursor of a number of functional materials. For instance, the pendant epoxide groups of the resulting polymers were converted to amines or quaternary ammonium compounds, azides, and dihalogenated compounds. Finally, the use of functional crosslinkers allows for the introduction of functional groups at the branching points.

Synthesis and modifications of branched epoxide-containing polymers

247th National Meeting (2014)

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