Tailor-made thermoreversible functional polymer via RAFT polymerization in an ionic liquid: a remarkably fast polymerization process

Abstract

Tailor-made poly(furfuryl methacrylate) (PFMA) was prepared via RAFT polymerization of furfuryl methacrylate (FMA) using ionic liquid (IL) as a solvent and 2-cyano-2-propyl dodecyl trithiocarbonate (CPDTC) as a RAFT reagent. The polymerization reaction was much faster in IL than the same reaction carried out in toluene. After the polymerization, the IL was recovered from the reaction mixture and recycled IL was successfully reused for the RAFT polymerization of FMA. The polymers were characterized by GPC, ¹H-NMR and MALDI-TOF-MS analyses. A thermoreversible functional polymer was prepared via the Diels–Alder (DA) and reverse (rDA) reaction between the PFMA and POSS maleimide isobutyl (POSS-M) and was studied by FT-IR and ¹H-NMR analyses. The DA polymer product showed a higher water contact angle (WCA) value of 103.1° reflecting the presence of hydrophobic POSS moieties and demonstrating hydrophobic characteristics of the modified functional polymer.