High Temperature Initiator-Free RAFT Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate in a Microwave Reactor

Paulus, Renzo M.; Becer, C. Remzi; Hoogenboom, Richard; Schubert, Ulrich S.

Abstract:

The reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was investigated under microwave irradiation. At first, a comparison was made between microwave and thermal heating for the RAFT polymerization of MMA with azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as initiator and 2-cyano-2-butyldithiobenzoate (CBDB) as RAFT agent, revealing comparable polymerization kinetics indicating the absence of non-thermal microwave effects. Second, the CBDB-mediated RAFT polymerization of MMA was investigated at high temperatures (120◦C, 150◦C, and 180◦C, respectively) in the absence of a radical initiator, showing a linear increase of the molar masses with conversion. The polydispersity indices remained below 1.5 up to 25% MMA conversion at 120◦C and 150◦C, indicating a controlled polymerization. This control over the polymerization was confirmed by the ability to control the molar masses by the concentration of RAFT agent.

Year:

2009

Type of Publication:

Article

Journal:

Australian Journal of Chemistry

Volume:

62

Pages:

254 - 259