Investigation of variations in monomer conformational change due to the presence of bulky substituent groups is important as it provides insight into the relations between surface structure and properties of monomers and polymers. The surface properties of polymers are of interest because they are used as adhesives and as lubricant coatings. Since the monomer units are the building blocks of polymers, investigating functionalized monomers will lead to the understanding of how their surface properties affect the polymer surfaces. In this project, interfacial molecular structures of bulky functionalized methacrylate based monomers are characterized with femtosecond sum frequency generation spectroscopy (FSFGS) at the air-liquid interface. The ethyl group of methacrylate monomer was substituted with a methoxy group (-OCH3), an isopropoxy group (-OCH(CH3)2), a tertbutoxy group (-OC(CH3)3), a phenoxy group (-OPh), and a methyl substituted phenoxy group (-OPh- CH3). The α-methyl group has preferential surface ordering at the air-liquid interface for all monomer units. Alkene-methylene group positioned at 3000 cm-1 was not observed for 2-Isopropoxyethyl methacrylate monomer SFG spectrum. These observations suggest that the bulkiness of the substituted groups affects the conformation of the molecule at the interface.

Investigating the contribution of steric effects for the preferential organization of methacrylate monomers at air-liquid interface using sum frequency generation spectroscopy

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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