Cellulose is highly interesting from a material point of view due to its physical and chemical properties.  The modification of cellulose has intrigued researchers for centuries and in recent years most of the focus has been into the modification of the nanostructural components of cellulose [1]. Controlled radical polymerization has proven to be a very useful route to control the surface properties of various cellulose substrates [2]. However, this requires the use of organic solvents which is big disadvantage.  Therefore, as an alternative to covalent grafting, we have synthesized a library of cationically charged block-copolymers which can simply be physiosorbed onto cellulose under aqueous conditions. Multifunctional di-and tri-block copolymers were synthesized by ATRP or a combination of ATRP and ROP, where one block was composed of an anchoring block and one block of a functional polymer. Quaternized poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) has been utilized as the anchoring block and either a hydrophobic polymer (polystyrene or polycaprolactone) or a thermoresponsive polymer (poly(di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) as functional blocks. The tailored block-copolymers were adsorbed onto cellulose nanofibrils or cellulose model surfaces. Furthermore, by RAFT-mediated emulsion polymerization, latex particles were produced composed of cationic PDMAEMA and PMMA, with varying length of the PMMA-block. These were subsequently adsorbed onto cellulose surfaces, exhibiting exceptional adsorption capacity.   Y. Habibi, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2014 , 43, 1519A. Carlmark, E. Malmstr�m Polymer Chemistry 2012 , 3, 1702

Modification of cellulose substrates using polymers obtained by controlled radical polymerization: Covalent grafting or physiosorption of polyelectrolytes

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.