In this study, the possibilities of a new "in situ" LED UV illumination NMR spectroscopic technique for performing an initiator-free thiol-ene "click" coupling reaction of an allyl-functionalized poly(allyl glycidyl ether) (PAGE) prepolymer with a number of mono- and di-oligo polyethylene glycol (PEG) thiols is demonstrated. The state-of-the-art setup constructed with LEDs as UV light sources that illuminate through optical fibers directly into an NMR testing tube at a fixed wavelength of 365 nm is appropriate for various polymeric materials and biologically active substances. The selected experimental protocol uses a series of periods of irradiation and dark periods, thus providing opportunities to conduct an effective thiol-ene "click" reaction and simultaneously study the kinetics of the photochemical reaction with the exposure time, as well as macromolecular association directly in a solution applying the whole types of NMR methods: from conventional 1H or 13C NMR to diffusion NMR spectroscopy (DOSY). In addition, the molecular mass characteristics of the prepared copolymers were studied by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC). The observed differences in the reaction rates as well as in the size of species formed (the corresponding hydrodynamic radiuses R h of aggregates) as a result of the coupling process of parent PAGE prepolymers and model PEG thiols were thoroughly discussed and the reaction pathway proposed.
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.