Designing next generation adhesives requires the synthesis of novel monomers that present unique intermolecular interactions, and our current efforts have focused on new families of charged and hydrogen bond containing acrylic and styrenic monomers. Particular attention has been devoted to the incorporation of the phosphonium cations due to enhanced thermal stability for hot melt adhesive applications while preserving the propensity for ion aggregation. Ionic aggregation imparts desirable thermomechanical properties in the design of pressure sensitive and hot melt adhesives. The phosphonium cation is readily incorporated into block copolymers using diphenylphosphino styrene in combination with both living anionic polymerization and controlled RAFT polymerization methodologies. This monomer benefits from direct attachment of the phosphorous atom to the aryl ring, eliminating premature high temperature degradation pathways as observed for earlier benzylic linkages. Nucleobases are also systematically introduced into acrylic monomers based on an efficient Michael addition reaction of nucleobases to a myriad of dicrylate monomers, thus preserving one acrylic site for polymerization and presenting a second site for complementary physical network formation. The nucleobases impart complementary hydrogen bonding for the synthesis of a new family of triblock copolymers, where the intermolecular interactions generate a novel nanoscale morphology and offer immediate impact as hot melt adhesives with both facile melt processibility and optimized thermomechanical performance.

Sticking with adhesives: From nucleobase-containing ABC triblock acrylic copolymer elastomers to phosphonium- and sulfonimide-containing adhesives

250th National Meeting (2015)

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