Copper(II) photoinduced graft modification of P(VDF-co-CTFE)

A novel polymer graft modification strategy was develped based on photoinduced Cu(II)-mediated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP). Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene)-graft-poly(methyl methacrylate) (P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-PMMA) was efficiently synthesized in the presence of CuCl₂/Me₆-Tren under the UV irradiation. Compared with the traditional modification approaches, the superiorities of Cu(II) photoinduced process were achieved including (1) temporol control of the polymerization, (2) low concentration of catalyst loading and (3) high graft content. The “off-on” impulsive UV irradiation sequence confirmed the responsive nature of the polymerization to the UV light. Moreover, monomer scope was extented - methacrylate (MA). The chain extention experiments were also conducted to prepare P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-(PMMA-b-PMA).