Kinetics of atom transfer radical polymerization of crosslinkable terpolymer P( MMA-BA-HEMA).

A crosslinkable terpolymer P( MMA-BA-HEMA) was prepared by atom transfer radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate. The structure of the terpolymer was characterized by ¹H NMR and gel permeation chromatography. The effects on the polymerization of ligand, initiator, solvent, CuCl₂ added in the initial stage and reaction temperature were investigated. The optimal reaction conditions were ethyl 2-bromopropionate as initiator, CuCl/ PMDETA as catalyst, cyclohexanone as solvent, catalyst/ligand = 1:1.5, [M]₀:[I]₀ = 200:1 and temperature 70 °C. The reaction followed first-order kinetics with respect to monomer concentration, indicating the best control over the polymerization process, a constant concentration of the propagating radical during the polymerization, efficient control over M_n of the polymer and low polydispersity ( M_w/ M_n < 1.3). © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]