Preparation of PS-acyl-P(AM-co-GMA) via atom transfer radical polymerization

A comblike and hydrophilic resin with epoxy groups (PS-acyl-P(AM-co-GMA)) was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method, using the chloroacetyl styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer microspheres (PS-acyl-Cl) as the initiator, hydrophilic acrylamide (AM) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as monomer, CuCl and N, N, N', N'-tetramethyl ethylenediamine (TMEDA) complex as catalyst. The influences of solvent, reaction time and reaction temperature on the grafting reaction were investigated. The optimal conditions were as followed: n(PS-acyl-Cl):n(CuCl):n(TMEDA):n(AM):n(GMA) = 1:1:1:1.8:22.2, V(GMA):V(DMF):V(toluene) = 1:0.6:0.4, reaction temperature was 80°C, reaction time was 60min. Satisfactory grafting yields (up to 700%) were obtained under the optimized conditions and the hydrophily of the microspheres could be controlled via changing the amount of AM.