Poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs), also called polymerized ionic liquids, refer to a subclass of polyelectrolytes which feature an ionic liquid (IL) species in each monomer repeating unit, connected through a polymeric backbone to form a macromolecular architecture. In the past few years PILs as an emerging interdisciplinary topic have attracted rapidly expanding interest and take an enabling role in the fields of polymer chemistry and material science. Generally it is believed that PILs combine some unique properties of ionic liquids with the flexibility and processability of macromolecular architectures. This further broadens the function and application spectrum of ILs and traditional polyelectrolytes in the fields of separation and gas sorption, analytic chemistry, catalysis, sensing, etc.In this presentation, a poly(ionic liquid) with a rather low glass transition temperature of -57�C was synthesized via free radical polymerization of an acrylate-type ionic liquid monomer. It exhibits fluidic behavior in a wide temperature range from room temperature to the threshold of the thermal decomposition. We demonstrated that it could act as a unique type of macromolecular solvents to dissolve various compounds and polymers. In addition, this polyelectrolyte could serve successfully as reaction media for colloid particle synthesis. The synergy in the solvation and stabilization properties is a striking character of this polymer to downsize the in situ generated particles. Apart from the synthesis of particles, also other chemical reactions like organic synthesis, catalytic reactions and solution polymerizations might be possible by using such a low-Tg PIL approach. This work thus points out the great potential of liquid polyelectrolytes as solvents in many different reaction systems.[1] O. Green, S. Grubjesic, S. Lee, M. A. Firestone, Polymer Reviews 2009, 49:4, 339-360.[2] Yuan, J.; Mecerreyes, D.; Antonietti, M.; Prog. Polym. Sci., 2013, 38, 1009-1036.[3] Zhao, Z.; Yin, M.; Zhang, A. P.; Prescher, S.; Antonietti, M.; Yuan, J.,* J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135 (15), 5549-5552.

Polyelectrolyte as solvent and reaction media

247th National Meeting (2014)

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