Synthesis and characterization of low molecular weight poly(methyl acrylate)-b-polystyrene by a combination of ATRP and click coupling method

The combination of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and click chemistry was employed for the efficient preparation of well-defined block copolymers. Bromo terminated poly(methyl acrylate) (pMA-Br) was prepared by an ATRP initiator, ethyl-2-bromoisobutyrate (EBiB). Subsequently, the bromine chain end of pMA-Br was converted to an azide group by simple nucleophilic substitution reaction. alpha-Alkyn-omega-bromo-functionalized polystyrene was also synthesized by ATRP using the alkyn-functionalized initiator, propargyl-2-bromoisobutyrate (PgBiB). In both cases, the conversion was limited to a low level to ensure a high degree of chain end functionality. Then the coupling reaction between the azide end group in pMA-N-3 and alkyn-functionalized PgBiB-pSt was performed by Cu(I)catalysis. This coupling reaction was monitored by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The synthesized block copolymer was characterized by FT-IR, H-1-NMR spectroscopy and H-1-H-1 COSY correlation spectroscopy.