Troponoid-mediated radical polymerization in aqueous medium
Journal
Polymer Chemistry
Journal Volume
16
Journal Issue
34
Start Page
3864
End Page
3874
ISSN
1759-9954
1759-9962
Date Issued
2025
Author(s)
Abstract
A new strategy, troponoid-mediated radical polymerization, has been applied to the radical polymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA), and N,N-dimethyl acrylamide (DMA) in aqueous media. The observed living characteristics including the linear increase in molecular weight with monomer conversion and the formation of block copolymers demonstrate the effectiveness of troponoids in controlling radical polymerization in water, but the relatively high dispersity (Đ) implied that the polymerization is partially controlled. Tropone (TP) and its derivatives, tropolone (TP-OH), 2-chlorotropolone (TP-Cl), and 2-methoxytropolone (TP-OMe) were employed to optimize the reaction conditions. The versatility of this approach is further highlighted by the synthesis of PDMA-b-PVP and PHEA-b-PVP block copolymers. Mechanistic insights and kinetic parameters were elucidated through NMR analysis, chain extension experiments, UV/Vis spectroscopy, and computational simulation.
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Type
journal article