Acrylate polymers have been widely studied in the academic and industrial field because of their exceptional chemical, heat and oxygen resistance. However, living anionic polymerization of acrylates is challenging due to intrinsic side reactions like backbiting reactions of propagating enolate anion, aggregation of active chain ends, etc. In this study, the synthesis of controlled alkyl acrylate polymers with different pendant groups and glass transition temperatures (Tg), such as poly(1-adamatyl acrylate) (PAdAA) and poly(tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate) (PTHFAA), was performed via living anionic polymerization with the initiation systems of sec-butyl lithium/diphenylethylene/LiCl and diphenylmethyl potassium/diethyl zinc in THF at -78 oC using glass-blowing and high vacuum techniques. The resulting random copolymers and block copolymers of PAdAA and PTHFAA with methyl methacrylate (MMA) and n-butyl acrylate (BA) were synthesized via living anionic and radical polymerization to develop thermoplastic elastomers. Graft copolymers were also synthesized to tune the morphology and make improvements on mechanical performance including elastic recovery, modulus, etc.

Synthesis and characterization of polyacrylates with different pendant groups for thermoplastic elastomers

250th National Meeting (2015)

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