Poly(dimethylsiloxane‐b‐styrene) diblock copolymers prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain‐transfer polymerization: Synthesis and characterization

Abstract

Well-defined poly(dimethylsiloxane-b-styrene) diblock copolymers were prepared by reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Monohydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane was modified to form a functional polydimethylsiloxane/ macro-RAFT agent, which was reacted with styrene to form the diblock copolymers. The chemical compositions and structures of the copolymers were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. The surface properties and morphology of the copolymers were investigated with static water contact-angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy, which showed a low surface energy and microphase separation surfaces that were composed of hydrophobic domains from polydimethylsiloxane segments.

Synthesis and Characterization of Polydimethylsiloxane end-Modified Polystyrene from Poly(Styrene – co –Vinyltriethoxysilane) Copolymers

“…It has been reported that phenyl rings in PS can interact with silanol groups on the glass trough electron donor -acceptor interactions 21 , whilst PDMS segments are highly hydrophobic. It is corroborated by the fact that the water contact angle of the samples herein studied are close to the corresponding value for PDMS homopolymer, which according to Mata and coworkers is around 113°2 2 , and comparable with the corresponding values early reported for PS-b-PDMS 6 , and PS-b-PDMS-b-PS 5 . 3 casted from a THF solution on a smooth glass surface at two different magnifications 750x and 8000x.…”

“…In the specific case of copolymers composed of PS and PDMS, Jiang et al, 5 studied the surface properties of PS-b-PDMS-b -PS, and found that their water contact angle ranges between 87.7 -97 °, depending on the length of the PS segments. In other report Guan et al, 6 found that the water contact angle of PS -b -PDMS is 109.9 °.…”

Silicone containing copolymers: Synthesis, properties and applications

“…Silicone containing diblock or triblock copolymers with well-defined structures can be prepared by living anionic polymerization through the sequential addition of monomers, using ROP or ATRP.Another widely utilized method is the chemical coupling of functionally terminated blocks usually prepared by anionic polymerization. Each of these synthetic techniques and the properties of copolymers obtained will be discussed separately in the forthcoming sections.Several other methods which can also be used for the preparation of silicone containing block copolymers include free radical copolymerization using macroinitiators (21,(28)(29)(30), iodine transfer polymerization (24,31) and reversible additionfragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization (32)(33)(34). Unfortunately, some of these techniques do not provide very good control of the block lengths, may require the use of specific monomers and also may lead to extensive homopolymer contamination (29,30).…”

Nanophase morphology and crystallization in poly(vinylidene fluoride)/polydimethylsiloxane‐block‐poly(methyl methacrylate)‐block‐polystyrene blends

“…The SiCH 3 group of PDMS block, the OCH 3 group of PMMA block and the C 6 H 5 of PS gave three characteristic peaks, as shown in Fig. , centred at 0.0, 3.63 and 6.5–7.16 ppm, respectively …”