In this work we investigate the copolymerization behavior in synthesis of statistical copolymer brushes under controlled radical conditions. In statistical copolymer brushes monomer sequence within the chains is dictated by monomer reactivities. Therefore, knowledge of monomer reactivity ratios is necessary so that polymer brushes can be tailored to the exact needs of a particular application. A new approach to measure the reactivity ratios from surface-initiated copolymerization using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was demonstrated previously under conventional, photoinitiated free radical conditions. To address the question of factors influencing the observed �reactivity� of a chain end, particularly where interfacial diffusion and effective activation/deactivation processes are likely to influence the copolymerization behavior, we employed a controlled radical grafting mechanism and compared several monomer pairs (n-butyl methacrylate/N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (BMA/DMAEMA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/N,N-dimethylaminoethyl (HEMA/DMAEMA)) for potential discrepancies in monomer reactivity ratios under controlled and conventional radical surface-initiated polymerization conditions using XPS. Statistical copolymer brushes are synthesized by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) and free radical photo-polymerization representing controlled and conventional radical conditions, respectively.

Understanding the copolymerization behavior under controlled radical surface-initiated polymerization using XPS

248th National Meeting (2014)

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