Facile synthesis and catalytic activity of well‐defined amphiphilic block copolymers based on N‐vinylimidazolium

Abstract

Well-defined amphiphilic block copolymers, poly(styrene)-b-poly(N-vinylimidazole) (PS-b-PVim), were successfully synthesized by macromolecular design via interchange of the xanthates/reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The structure of the copolymer based on Vim can be well controlled, and the molecular weight distribution was relatively narrow (PDI = 1.24). The size and morphology of the aggregates of the amphiphilic copolymers were investigated by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscope, the results implied that the uniform spheroidal micelles consisting of PS core and PVim corona were assembled, and the catalytic activities of PS-b-PVim for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate at different temperatures were also investigated by highperformance liquid chromatograph (HPLC); the catalytic activities of diblock copolymers were prominently improved compared with that of PVim homopolymers. Moreover, the catalytic activities of the copolymers followed the Arrhenius behavior in the wide experimental temperature range.

Synthesis, Thermoresponsive Behavior, and Catalytic Properties of Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymers of N-Vinylcaprolactam and N-Vinylimidazole

“…The inability of the PVI-CTA to reinitiate the polymerization of VCL is probably due to the high stability of PVI intermediates to fragmentation [34]. This supposition is in agreement with the fact that, to the best of our knowledge, PVI was never used in previous investigations as a macro-CTA for the preparation of DCs with various comonomers such as NIPA [21] and styrene [35]. Therefore, in this work, we used PVCL samples as macro-CTAs for synthesis of PVCL-b-PVI copolymers.…”

Silica/poly (N‐vinylimidazolium) nanospheres by combined RAFT polymerization and thiol‐ene click chemistry

“…The vinyl group is not conjugated with the carbonyl group unlike acrylamides. However, xanthate‐type CTA [1‐( O ‐ethylxanthyl)ethyl]benzene takes good control of the polymerization of N ‐vinyl monomers, which was proved in our previous work . Then, it was followed by reduction of the PVim to the PVim‐SH.…”

“…The results of the catalytic activities of the SiO 2 /PVim can be achieved through the detection of p ‐nitrophenol. The standard curve of p ‐nitrophenol was shown in our previous work; therefore, a series of catalytic reaction process was designed, and then the catalytic activity was evaluated.…”

“…The thiol‐terminated PVim (PVim‐SH) chains were synthesized via RAFT polymerization of Vim and subsequently thiol‐modification. [1‐( O ‐ethylxanthyl)ethyl]benzene used as CTA was synthesized according to our previous work . Then, poly( N ‐vinylimidazole) (PVim) homopolymer was synthesized through the process of RAFT polymerization.…”

Synthesis of block copolymers containing 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate by NMP – a versatile platform for functionalization

“…26 In case of nanoreactors based on amphiphilic block copolymers a concise number of literature-known examples are available dealing with covalently bound organocatalysts. [27][28][29][30][31][32] A straightforward approach towards such systems is given by providing suitable ligand moieties for metal complexation directly attached to the polymer backbone. 19,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39] In this work we investigate the suitability of 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (ClHPMA) as platform to introduce ligand moieties within nanostructured soft matter.…”