RAFT-mediated polymerization of styrene in readily biodegradable ionic liquids

Geoffrey Johnston-Hall, Jitendra Rameshlal Harjani, Peter John Scammells, Michael J Monteiro

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28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Two novel and readily biodegradable ionic liquids were used as solvents in the successful reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated radical polymerization of styrene. The polymerizations reached high conversions with slightly higher rates than that observed in toluene, and the molecular weight distributions were consistent with that of an ideal living radical polymerization. This represents a significant advance as previous attempts to conduct RAFT-mediated polymerizations of styrene in ionic liquids had failed. With a detailed kinetic analysis we found that the ratio of termination to propagation rate constants remained relatively constant over the conversion range, suggesting that trapped or protected radicals were not present in our systems.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1604 - 1609
Number of pages5
JournalMacromolecules
Volume42
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 2009

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