Various Brush Polymers Through Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization and Nitroxide Radical Coupling Reaction

A 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or -poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) (PEG(11)-TEMPO or PCL23-TEMPO) is grafted as a side chain onto a ROMP-generated polyoxanorbornene (PONB) main backbone with bromide pendant groups (PONB20-Br) using the NRC click reaction to yield related the brush copolymers, PONB20-g-PEG(11) or PONB20-g-PCL23 catalyzed by Cu(I), Cu(0), and N,N,N',N '',N'''-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine in N,N-dimethylformamide at room temperature. Additionally, a ROMP-generated brush copolymer PONB9-g-poly(methyl methacrylate)(24) (PMMA)(24)-Cl was reacted with a PEG(11)-TEMPO or a PCL23-TEMPO precursor via the NRC click reaction to yield a corresponding brush terpolymer, PONB9-g-(PMMA(24)-b-PEG(11)) or PONB9-g-(PMMA(24)-b-PCL23) under a similar reaction condition described above. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 49: 2850-2858, 2011