SYNTHESIS OF STAR LIKE POLYMERS VIA ATRP USING FOUR ARMS ORGANIC INITIATOR

Abstract: Four arm star- shaped poly (lauryl methacrylate) and polystyrene were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization with "core-first" technique. Four arm organic initiator pentaerythritol tetrakis(2-chloropropionate) was synthesized and used in the CuBr catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization of LMA with N-(n-octyl)-2-pyridinemethanimine (OPMI) as ligand and styrene with N,N,N',N'',N''-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) as ligand. Polymers were characterized by GPC which shows that in both cases molecular weight increases with increasing conversion that indicate the living nature of polymerization. The star- shaped polymers were characterized by FT-IR and thermo-gravimetric analysis which shows that four arm star initiator was successfully used for the preparation of star- shaped polymer.

Keywords: Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), "core-first" technology, N-(-n-octyl)-2-pyridinemethanimine, star shaped polymers, Gel permeation chromatography (GPC)