Modification of solid surfaces by surface-attached polymer monolayers can be achieved by chemically binding preformed polymers to the surfaces (�grafting-to�) and the growth of polymer chains directly at the surface of the substrate (�grafting-from�). The incorporation of surface-attached monomers into growing polymer chains are a third possibility to covalently bind polymer layers to surfaces (�grafting-through�). The modification of SiO2surfaces arouses a great deal of theoretical and practical interest, as these materials are widely used for technical applications in analytics, chromatography or catalysis. Figure 1. <img src='https://acs-archive-assets2.s3.amazonaws.com/241nm/uploads/70145_figure1acs.jpg' alt='' />Polymer grafting with surface-attached monomers is an established and frequently employed technique for surface-modification. Nevertheless, detailed investigations of the reaction mechanism have not been performed yet.To elucidate the mechanistic details, we systematically studied the influence of different reaction parameters on a free radical polymerization with surface-attached monomers on solid SiO2 surfaces by employing silanes with a polymerizable groups, allowing a covalent attachment of polymer chains to the surface of silicon based substrates. During free radical polymerization under standardized conditions polymer in solution is formed. When a surface-attached monomer becomes incorporated the whole polymer chain becomes linked to the surface.The influence of reaction parameters (concentration of initiator or monomer, temperature, reaction time) onto the surface-attachment reaction was investigated. Here we present the results of our studies and a model of the mechanism of the �grafting-through� process, as well as a number of applications.

Grafting through: Radical polymerization reactions with surface-attached monomers

248th National Meeting (2014)

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