New applications of copper-mediated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (Cu-RDRP)

Sachin Gupta
Lecture of the lecture cycle
20.6.2024 10:30, Lecture room A

The first part of the lecture will be dedicated to the development of a new synthetic strategy affording complex polymeric architectures (CPAs) with ultra-high chain density through Cu-RDRP. For this purpose, we implemented trichloroacetyl isocyanate (TAI) as a vehicle for rapid and clean introduction of trifunctional initiation sites onto different CPA precursors. Through an extensive optimization study (~400 polymerization experiments), we created a library of conditions affording well-controlled polymerization of different monomer classes (styrene, acrylates, methacrylates) in a wide molecular weight (MW) range. Further, using comprehensive NMR and triple-detection SEC studies, we confirmed the trifunctionality of TAI-based initiation sites under different conditions. This new strategy expanded the group of usable CPA precursors and opened avenues for generating CPAs of novel topologies with unprecedented ease. The second part of the lecture will be dedicated to the development of the most universal contemporary Cu-RDRP method for the polymerization of an important functional monomer, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), utilizing a Cu(0) catalyst, a chlorinated initiator, and a non-polar reaction medium (1,4-dioxane). These unconventional conditions enabled for the first time the synthesis of well-defined HEMA homopolymers in a wide MW range, and also direct copolymerization of unprotected HEMA with lipophilic comonomers leading to amphiphilic copolymers with high HEMA content.

The lecture is presented in English