The ability of combining hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers into well-defined polymers with specific architectures, and the possibility of triggering their self-assembly behaviour via external stimuli open a variety of potential applications. Among all, the thermoresponsive behavior of polymers in aqueous solutions has been widely studied and utilized in various applications. However, the fundamental understanding on the use of oil soluble polymers in non-aqueous solutions is very limited. In this presentation, the synthesis of linear oxazoline (co)polymers and graft-copolymers consisting of a methacrylates backbone and oxazoline side chains will be discussed. Moreover, their solution behavior and thermal properties are evaluated via turbidity measurements and thermal analyses. The graft-copolymers were obtained using the grafting-onto method, combining the reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization of methacrylates monomers and the cationic ring opening polymerization (CROP) of 2-alkyl-2-oxazoline monomers. Various parameters were evaluated in order to optimize and tune the grafting efficiency and their thermoresponsive behaviour. It was seen that the overall hydrophobicity of the polymer chains, the composition, and the overall order of the system play a significant role on their thermoresponsive behviour.

Stimuli-responsive oxazoline-methacrylate-based graft-copolymers via a combination of CROP and RAFT polymerization

ACS Spring 2022

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