Polymer Chemistry Blog

The use of a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) containing an unsaturated chain end as a macroinitiator during reversible complexation mediated polymerization has been previously reported by Goto and coworkers. Typically, such macroinitiators can also be used as macromonomers to generate branched polymers via propagation. In this work, Goto and co-workers elegantly demonstrate that the occurrence of addition-fragmentation chain transfer and propagation strongly depends on the temperature during the polymerization of styrene. Through carefully monitoring the kinetics of the polymerization of styrene, the authors discovered that propagation is predominant below 60 ̊C, consistent with previous reports. However, upon elevating the temperature (e.g. 120 ̊C), addition-fragmentation chain transfer dominates instead. This discovery then allowed access to the efficient synthesis of block copolymers with PMMA and polystyrene at high temperatures. Importantly, addition-fragmentation chain transfer was also predominant over propagation during the polymerizations of acrylonitrile and acrylates yielding well-defined block copolymers. PMMAs with different molecular weights were also investigated and the polymerization was controlled utilizing iodine transfer polymerization for styrene and reversible complexation mediated polymerization for the other monomers. Such an approach is highly advantageous due to the ease of the operation and it is expected to be a practical alternative for efficient block copolymer synthesis.

Tips/comments directly from the authors:

1. The proper purification of polymers and the careful NMR analysis were important for obtaining the accurate kinetic data. The kinetic study provided a useful idea enabling the synthesis of block copolymers of PMMA with polystyrene (PSt).
2. Block copolymers of PMMA with PSt, polyacrylonitrile, and polyacrylates are accessible. Relatively high monomer conversions are achievable.
3. Not only the isolated alkyl iodide but also the alkyl iodide in situ generated from iodine (I₂) and azo compound can effectively be used as the initiating dormant species. The in situ method is less expensive and robust and hence can be a practically attractive

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Synthesis of block copolymers using poly(methyl methacrylate) with unsaturated chain end through kinetic studies, Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 5617-5625, DOI: 10.1039/c9py01367a

About the web writer

Dr. Athina Anastasaki is an Editorial Board Member and a Web Writer for Polymer Chemistry. Since January 2019, she joined the Materials Department of ETH Zurich as an Assistant Professor to establish her independent research group.

Reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization has revolutionized the field of polymer chemistry providing access to a wide range of materials with controlled molecular weight, functionality, end-group fidelity and dispersity. In their current contribution, the groups of Moad, Keddie and Fellows joined forces to report a range of low molar mass cationic RAFT agents that allow for predictable molecular weight and dispersity in ab initio emulsion polymerization. In particular, upon utilizing the protonated RAFT agent ((((cyanomethyl)thio)carbonothioyl)(methyl)amino)pyridin1-ium toluenesulfonate and the analogous methyl-quaternized RAFT agents, 4-((((cyanomethyl)thio) carbonothioyl)(methyl)amino)-1-methylpyridin-1-ium dodecyl sulfate, styrene could be efficiently polymerized yielding polystyrene with narrow molecular weight distributions (Đ_m 1.2–1.4). The authors attribute the success of ab initio emulsion polymerization with the former RAFT agent to the hydrophilicity of the pyridinium group which allows for the predominant partition of the water-soluble RAFT agent into the aqueous phase.  The RAFT agent also gives minimal retardation. In addition, by employing 4-((((cyanomethyl)thio) carbonothioyl)(methyl)amino)-1-methylpyridin-1-ium dodecyl sulfate, a “surfactant-free” RAFT emulsion can be achieved producing a low Đ_m  polystyrene although the RAFT end-group was lost upon isolating the polymer. Additional preliminary experiments were also performed demonstrating that this class of RAFT agents can be broadly applicable in ab initio emulsion polymerization of a range of other more-activated monomers including acrylates and methacrylates producing low dispersity polymers while the polymerization of less activated monomers such as vinyl acetate showed good control over the molecular weight, albeit broader molecular weight distributions. The authors are currently investigating such systems to establish their full utility in emulsion polymerization and develop robust and scalable conditions for the formation of block copolymers.

Tips/comments directly from the authors:

There are two significant challenges in implementing successful ab initio emulsion polymerization in a high throughput platform such as the Chemspeed®

1. Devising a protocol for vortexing/agitating so as to form, and then maintain, a stable latex. The protocol reported was the end-result of many experiments.
2. Degassing the reaction medium. RAFT polymerization can be successfully carried out in non-degassed media.  However, for good reproducibility, optimal dispersity, high end group fidelity and acceptable polymerization rates, degassing remains important.  In conducting experiments on the Chemspeed®, it is important to make sure the media to be dispensed by the robot are degassed, and that all of the solvent lines, and the solvent used to prime and wash the syringe needles are degassed.

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Ab initio RAFT emulsion polymerization mediated by small cationic RAFT agents to form polymers with low molar mass dispersity, Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 5044-5051, DOI: 10.1039/C9PY00893D

About the Web Writer

Dr. Athina Anastasaki is an Editorial Board Member and a Web Writer for Polymer Chemistry. Since January 2019, she joined the Materials Department of ETH Zurich as an Assistant Professor to establish her independent research group.

To precisely engineer macromolecular materials, close monitoring of the polymerization progress is required. Therefore, real-time online monitoring provides polymer chemists the opportunity to accurately observe and optimize their reactions. To this end, Warren and co-workers utilized benchtop flow-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as a very convenient and powerful tool for real-time monitoring of polymers synthesized either by controlled radical polymerization or free radical polymerization protocols. In particular, reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization was employed to polymerize acrylamides giving very high conversions in less than 10 minutes and the kinetic profile of this reaction was efficiently captured. In a second example where RAFT dispersion polymerization was monitored. In spite of the rapid polymerization rates, high temporal resolution enabled the previse determination of the onset of rate acceleration usually observed for polymerization induced self-assembly (PISA) systems. In addition to the monitoring of the aforementioned complex systems, the free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate was also studied. In this case, the linear semi-logarithmic plot indicated the expected pseudo-first order kinetics. The results discussed here demonstrate the power of using benchtop NMR spectrometers for online flow applications where both controlled and free radical polymerizations can be employed. It is the author’s opinion that the lower price of these instruments will improve access to NMR spectroscopy while the reduced sample preparation/time taken for analysis will increase research output.

Tips/comments directly from the authors:

1. Despite the reduced field strength, detailed polymerization kinetics comparable to traditional ‘high field’ NMR can be obtained since the vinyl protons are easily resolved.
2. Flow-NMR is a powerful tool to improve time-resolution and reduce lab workload but must be used with care – e.g. flow rate and sample cell geometry must be optimized.
3. Hydrogenated solvents can be used with lower-field instruments, but solvent selection is important: minimising any potential solvent overlap is key to reliable data.
4. Spectral corrections such as to the phase and baseline are crucial for reliable data – especially if using an automated system.

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Benchtop flow-NMR for rapid online monitoring of RAFT and free radical polymerisation in batch and continuous reactors,  Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 4774-4778, DOI: 10.1039/C9PY00982E

About the web writer

Dr. Athina Anastasaki is an Editorial Board Member and a Web Writer for Polymer Chemistry. Since January 2019, she joined the Materials Department of ETH Zurich as an Assistant Professor to establish her independent research group.

Engineering mannosylated nanomaterials with various functionalities can significantly contribute to the development of more effective vaccines or cancer immunotherapeutics that target immune cell subsets that express the mannose receptor. With this in mind, De Geest’s group aimed at equipping mannosylated nanogels with membrane-destabilizing properties that are responsive to the acidic pH found in intracellular vesicles, such as endosomes, but are shielded when the nanogels are intact in neutral pH. In particular, membrane destabilizing tertiary amine moieties were successfully introduced in the core of the nanogels. Subsequently and via using a pH-sensitive ketal-based crosslinker, the membrane-destabilizing properties only become activated upon pH-triggered disassembly of the nanogels into soluble unimers. In order to achieve this, the effect of tertiary amine modification of mannosylated block copolymers with N,N-dimethylamine (DMAEA) and N,N-diisopropylamine (DiPAEA) was initially evaluated. Both block copolymers showed strong haemolytic activity and the DiPAE block copolymers demonstrated an activity only at acidic endosomal pH values. To silence the membrane destabilizing activity and render the nanogels non-cytotoxic at high concentration, cross-linking of the block copolymers into nanogels was conducted. Interestingly, when a pH degradable ketal cross-linker was used, the nanogels could regain their activity by exposing them to mild acidic pH. As the authors nicely conclude, such synthetic mannosylated materials may hold promise for cytoplasmic delivery of non-membrane permeable therapeutic macromolecules.

Tips/comments directly from the authors:

1. Dendritic cells and macrophages reside in peripheral tissue, lymphoid organs and sites of inflammation and tumor tissue. They are a primary therapeutic target.
2. The use of tetraacetylated carbohydrate monomers allows for straightforward polymerization and work-up in organic media. Deacetylation is easily performed in a final step and yields hydrophilic glyconanogels.
3. The use of a pentafluorophenyl activated ester hydrophobic polymer bock allows for self-assembly in aprotic polar solvents. This is ideal for successive post-modification steps without facing hydrolysis as a side reaction.
4. Diisopropylamine motifs are highly efficient in destabilizing lipid membranes at acidic pH, presumably through hydrophobic interaction with phospholipid membranes.

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Engineering mannosylated nanogels with membrane-disrupting properties Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 4297-4307, DOI: 10.1039/C9PY00492K

About the Web Writer

Dr. Athina Anastasaki is an Editorial Board Member and a Web Writer for Polymer Chemistry. Since January 2019, she joined the Materials Department of ETH Zurich as an Assistant Professor to establish her independent research group.

Synthetic polymer networks have attracted considerable attention owing to their exceptional mechanical properties including high resilience and toughness. Such materials are typically based on multi-arm poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) which is a commercially available compound. However, PEG networks suffer from restricted access to higher molecular weight which limits the network dimensions. In addition, the crystalline nature of PEG does not allow for a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical behaviour in bulk network elastomers. To overcome this challenge, Walther and co-workers introduced a new class of high molecular weight star polymer building blocks for the construction of model network elastomers and hydrogels with tuneable mechanical properties. To achieve this, triethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate was successfully polymerized via light-inducted atom transfer radical polymerization and Cu(0)-wire reversible deactivation radical polymerization, yielding well-defined polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions and high end-group fidelity. Upon synthesis, functional motifs were introduced within the polymer through either post-polymerization modification of the bromine end-groups or the use of a fluorescent star initiator. In particular, the introduction of norbornene end-groups allowed for the subsequent crosslinking of the materials in presence of a photo-radical initiator. This allowed access to thermally reversible model network hydrogels based on dynamic supramolecular bonds. Overall, this work enables the simultaneous study of the mechanical behaviour of bulk network elastomers and swollen hydrogens with the same network topology. As the authors elude in their conclusions, by elegantly exploiting precision polymer chemistry, our understanding of architecture control can be enhanced leading to the rational design of functional mechanical network materials.

Tips/comments directly from the authors:

1. Water-soluble star polymers with a low T_g and quantitative end-group introduction allow the simultaneous investigation of identical model networks as hydrogels and bulk elastomers.
2. The monomer triethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate (mTEGA) yields low-T_g, water-soluble polymers. A distinct advantage over other oligo(ethylene glycol) acrylates is the absence of potential diacrylate impurities compromising polymerization control.
3. Polymerization of mTEGA by photo-induced and Cu⁰-catalyzed Cu-RDRP from commercial and functional 4-arm initiators yields narrowly dispersed star polymers up to high molecular weights. In order to achieve optimal control with minimal side reactions, a balance in the initiator-to-CuBr₂ ratio is necessary.
4. Cu⁰-mediated Cu-RDRP is suitable for scale up, and the polymers can be isolated by precipitation into 85/15 diethyl ether/n-pentane followed by salt removal through neutral alumina.
5. Following end-group transformation with primary amines, both excess amines and bromide salts must be removed. The former is removed through precipitation, the latter by taking the polymer up into a diethyl ether/THF mixture and removing insoluble components.
6. Constructing hydrogels by photo-crosslinking 4-arm p(mTEGA)-norbornene with a bifunctional thiol is fast (<1 min) with the photo-radical initiator LAP and slower (>30 min) with Irgacure-2959.
7. Supramolecular hydrogels constructed from 4-arm p(mTEGA)-terpyridine with divalent metal ions are highly dependent on the metal. Zn^II yields hydrogels which are dynamic at room temperature, and increasingly so upon heating making them suitable for thermal 3D-printing.

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Bottom-up design of model network elastomers and hydrogels from precise star polymers, Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 3740-3750, DOI: 10.1039/c9py00731h

About the web writer
Dr. Athina Anastasaki is an Editorial Board Member and a Web Writer for Polymer Chemistry. Since January 2019, she joined the Materials Department of ETH Zurich as an Assistant Professor to establish her independent research group.