Influence of the isomeric structures of butyl acrylate on its single-electron transfer-degenerative chain transfer living radical polymerization in water catalyzed by Na2S2O4

The aim of this work is to the study the influence of the isomer structures of butyl acrylate monomer on the single-electron transfer/degenerative chain transfer mediated living radical polymerization (SET-DTLRP). The kinetic of isobutyl acrylate is determined for the first time by SET-DTLRP in water catalyzed by sodium dithionite. The plots of number-average molecular weight versus conversion and In[M](0)/[M]) versus time are linear, demonstrating a controlled polymerization. The influence of the isomer t-butyl, i-butyl, and n-butyl on the kinetics, proper-ties, and stereochemistry of the reactions was assessed. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous report dealing with the synthesis of PiBA by any LRP approach in aqueous medium. The results presented in this work suggest that the stability provided by the acrylate side group has an important influence in the polymerization process. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.