Raft approach to the copolymerisation of methyl methacrylate based polymeric micelles

Abstract

In this study, copolymer micelles were synthesised via free radical RAFT bulk polymerisation and RAFT dispersion polymerisation of methyl methacrylate. 4-CPDB-PDMS was used as the macro- RAFT agent, leading to the formation of the micellar nanostructures. Copolymer micelles obtained from the bulk polymerisation were used as macro RAFT agents in the dispersion polymerisation of methyl methacrylate in hexane, at 70^oC. Characterisation of the various polymeric products was carried out using gel permeation chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(NMR), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analyses. The results show that the molecular weights of the copolymers in the bulk are controlled. The block copolymers in the dispersion have broad polydispersity indices (PDI) and the kinetic study indicates a deviation from ‘pseudo first order’ kinetics at higher conversions.

Keywords: RAF; polymerisation; methyl methacrylate; micelles