Facile and highly efficient “living” radical polymerization of hydrophilic vinyl monomers in water

Abstract

In this work, well-defined polymerization of water soluble poly(ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and N,N-dimethyl-acrylamide (DMA) were successfully conducted in water by a facile and efficient polymerization system, only including oxidatively stable copper(II) acetate and 1-cyano-1-methylethyl diethyldithiocarbamate (MANDC). The effects of temperature, copper concentration, and monomer concentration on polymerization of PEGMA were systematically investigated to optimize the polymerization conditions. The polymerization of PEGMA can be conveniently carried out with ppm levels of the copper catalyst at 30–70 °C. The linearity of the kinetic plots, linear increase of molecular weight with conversion, and narrow molecular weight distribution (M_w/M_n < 1.3) of the polymer showed the typical character of “living” radical polymerization (LRP). Chain-extension reactions further verify the “living” features of this polymerization system.