High molecular weight polyacrylonitrile with low polydispersity has been successfully synthesized utilizing reversible addition fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Herein, a comprehensive study was performed to understand the effects of reaction temperature, RAFT agent selection, concentration of solvent, concentration of monomer, the molar ratio of RAFT agent to initiator, and the molar ratio of monomer to RAFT agent on the polymerization kinetics and the molecular weight as well as the polydispersity. The key to success is attributed to the combination of reducing the number of side reactions by low reaction temperatures, and also improving the interchange reaction between active and dormant states through deliberate selection of RAFT agents. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) equipped with a multi angle laser light scattering (MALLS) detector was used to measure the absolute weight average molecular weight and polydispersity of the resulting polymers.

Facile synthesis of controlled, high molecular weight polyacrylonitrile via low temperature RAFT polymerization

249th National Meeting (2015)

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