Investigation of the thermal properties of glycidyl methacrylate–ethylene glycol dimethacrylate copolymeric microspheres modified by Diels–Alder reaction

Abstract

The study describes the thermal properties of functional microspheres composed of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and crosslinking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA). Copolymeric poly(GMA-co-EGDMA) microspheres were prepared via suspensionemulsion polymerization in the presence of toluene and decan-1-ol as porogens. In order to introduce functional groups, the porous methacrylate network was modified by epoxy ring opening with the use of sodium cyclopentadienide and then the Diels-Alder addition with maleic anhydride. The thermal properties of poly(GMA-co-EGDMA) materials were evaluated by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. By TG/FTIR, it was observed that new functional materials exhibited multistaged decomposition patterns, different from parent poly(GMA-co-EGDMA) microspheres. The synthesized poly(GMA-co-EGDMA) microspheres exhibited rather high thermal stability in inert atmosphere. Their initial decomposition temperature determined at the temperature of 2% of mass loss was about 210°C; however, after the chemical modification it was slightly lower. The thermal degradation of parent poly(GMA-co-EGDMA) copolymer runs mainly according to the depolymerization mechanism, while functionalized by cyclopentadienyl group and maleic anhydride microspheres decompose through the chain scission mechanism.

Regular Polymeric Microspheres with Highly Developed Internal Structure and Remarkable Thermal Stability

“…In order to improve adsorption of polar analytes, it is necessary to enable their interaction with the sorbent surface through polar interactions. This purpose can be achieved via two main routes: chemical modification of the hydrophobic polymer skeleton by a suitable polar moiety [37][38][39] or by the direct synthesis of polar adsorbents from an appropriate ratio of a hydrophilic monomer and a cross-linker [40][41][42]. It should be emphasized that an effective sorbent with both a high capacity and a fast adsorption rate should possess two principal attributes: functional groups and a highly developed internal structure.…”

Studies of thermal properties of di(methacryloyloxymethyl)naphthalene–divinylbenzene (DMN–DVB) copolymer and its alkyl-bonded derivatives

“…The first one with the maximum at * 60°C is connected with the evaporation of water molecules absorbed in the microsphere pores (see FTIR spectra in Figs. 7 and 8) [17][18][19]. The next one with the maximum at 183°C for DMN-DVB-C8 and 249°C for DMN-DVB-C18 is mainly associated with the decomposition of the aliphatic chains attached to the microspheres.…”

Insight into functionalized DMN-co-GMA copolymers

“…Creating unsaturated aliphatic compounds is confirmed by the presence of the bands at 1460-1300 cm -1 that correspond to the deformation vibrations of methylene, methyl and vinyl groups. The absorption band at 3582 cm -1 (related to the O-H stretching vibrations) indicates the emission of allyl alcohol or glycidol that can be the products of ester and epoxide decomposition [26]. Additionally, bands indicated different types of carbonyl compounds (at 1765 and 1732 cm -1 ) are present.…”