Controlled sequential radical copolymerization of styrene and butyl methacrylate

Abstract

The application of atom transfer radical polymerization for the synthesis of controlled block copolymer of styrene and butyl methacrylate was discribed in this paper, For instance, butylmethacrylate was first polymerized by using 1-PEC1, CuC1 and bipyridine in a molar ratio of : 1 : 2 at 120 degrees C for 2 h, the bulk polymerization proceeded to about 96% conversion, When styrene was subsequently added to the controlled polybutyl methacrylate synthesized as described above and polymerized at the same temperature for 5 h, the block copolymers of BMA and S with predicted molecular weight (1 X 10(4)similar to 4 X 10(4)) and narrower molecular weight distribution (1.1 similar to 1.5) were obtained. When the first monomer was changed to styrene, it needed more time to get high conversion.