Effects of RAFT Agent on the Chloromethylstyrene Polymerizations in a Simultaneous Radiation Grafting System

Jinhua Chen; Noriaki Seko

doi:10.3390/polym9080307

Effects of RAFT Agent on the Chloromethylstyrene Polymerizations in a Simultaneous Radiation Grafting System

Polymers (Basel). 2017 Jul 26;9(8):307. doi: 10.3390/polym9080307.

Authors

Jinhua Chen¹, Noriaki Seko²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Advanced Functional Materials Research, Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), 1233 Watanuki-Machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292, Japan. chen.jinhua@qst.go.jp.
² Department of Advanced Functional Materials Research, Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), 1233 Watanuki-Machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292, Japan. seko.noriaki@qst.go.jp.

Abstract

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agent was added into a simultaneous radiation grafting system and its effects on graft polymerization and homopolymerization were investigated. Chloromethylstyrene (CMS) was graft polymerized onto ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE) films under γ-ray sources via simultaneous irradiation. The non-grafted poly(CMS) in the grafted films were extracted by xylene at 120 °C. The poly(CMS) was characterized by NMR and GPC instruments. Addition of the RAFT agent suppressed both graft polymerization and homopolymerization. However, under a high concentration of RAFT agent, the homopolymerization in the monomer solution could occur through a typical RAFT polymerization while polymerization in the ETFE films proceeded via RAFT and conventional radical polymerization, resulting in poly(CMS) in the ETFE films with molecular weight dispersity higher than 1.0 but lower than that without RAFT agent. Furthermore, it was found that the molecular weight of the poly(CMS) in the ETFE films was several times higher than that of the poly(CMS) in the monomer solution.

Keywords: chloromethylstyrene; ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE); grafting copolymers; radiation; reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT).