Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Cross-Linked Co-poly(itaconic anhydride-methyl methacrylate): The Effects of the Molar Ratio and Cross-Linking Agent on the Thermal Stability

Abstract

In the present work, a new series of cross-linked copolymers based on itaconic anhydride and methyl methacrylate were prepared employing free radical copolymerization in the presence of azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator and 2-butanone as a solvent under microwave irradiation. The copolymers containing itaconic anhydride (ITA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were chosen due to the formation of long-term stable anhydride moieties, which might be useful to attach enzymes covalently with numerous applications in water treatment. The copolymerization process was carried out in the presence of two types of cross-linking agent, namely, ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) and divinylbenzene (DVB) in a range of 0-20% (w/w) to explore their effect on the thermal and stiffness properties of the obtained cross-linked copolymers. Increasing the ratio of the cross-linking agent, the copolymers prefer to precipitate rather than form a gel during the polymerization process. While using ethylene dimethacrylate as a cross-linking agent, the copolymers change from porous to stiffness structures depending on the molar ratio of the monomers used during the polymerization. On the other hand, using divinylbenzene as a cross-linking agent, the stiffness structure was obtained in all cases and there is no effect observed for the monomer’s ratio or the percentage of cross-linking agent on the morphology of the prepared copolymers.

Effect of polymerisation by microwave on the physical properties of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) specific for caffeine

“…DVB has been considered in the manufacture of microwave transparent materials 35,36 while another study shows that much higher temperatures (120 °C) were required to obtain polymerisation 37 -temperatures that would be unsuitable for MIP synthesis due to thermodynamic requirements.…”

Effect of Isomerization and Copolymerization of Itaconic Anhydride During the Synthesis of Renewable Monomers Using Vegetable Oils

“…10 It also provides versatile polymeric materials. Therefore, it has been extensively used to synthesize renewable copolymers, such as by reacting it with methacrylate derivatives, 11 poly(lactic acid), [12][13][14] hyaluronic acid, 15 chitosan derivatives, 16 starch, 17 and others. 5,18,19 The use of vegetable oils (VO) as raw materials in monomer synthesis is also interesting due to the variety of their extraction sources, such as nut, peel, and fruit seeds.…”

“…(iii) And to clarify the structure of the products obtained: as mentioned by the literature the final properties of polymer will be affected by the possible isomerization and or/copolymerization of ITA. 5,[9][10][11] It is possible to achieve better properties when these phenomena are well understood.…”

Preparation and Properties of Nanoclay Reinforced High‐Performance Functional Poly(Itaconic Anhydride‐co‐Acrylamide) Nanomaterials

“…Itaconic anhydride‐methyl methacrylate copolymeric materials have been prepared and modified by amidation [17] . Itaconic anhydride copolymers and cross‐linked copolymers of methyl methacrylate and acrylamide have been synthesized by different techniques and the effect of itaconic anhydride content and cross‐linking agent on thermal stability of the materials have also been investigated [18,19] . Highly efficient nonconventional luminescent materials have been prepared using copolymers of itaconic anhydride with vinyl caprolactam, vinyl pyrrolidone and 1‐octene [20,21] .…”

“…[17] Itaconic anhydride copolymers and cross-linked copolymers of methyl methacrylate and acrylamide have been synthesized by different techniques and the effect of itaconic anhydride content and cross-linking agent on thermal stability of the materials have also been investigated. [18,19] Highly efficient nonconventional luminescent materials have been prepared using copolymers of itaconic anhydride with vinyl caprolactam, vinyl pyrrolidone and 1-octene. [20,21] pH responsive acrylamide/itaconic acid based hydrogels have been developed for the dye removal from textile wastes.…”