The effect of monosaccharide reducing sugars on the atom transfer radical polymerization of n-butyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The effect of various organic reducing agents, in the. form of monosaccharide reducing sugars, on therate of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of n-butyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate isreported in this study. The addition of the reducing sugars has a positive effect on the rate of ATRP. Upto 100% increase in the rate of polymerization was recorded, in some cases. These organic reducingagents have little effect on the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the polyin-butylmethacrylate) and polydispersity indexes remain well below 1.2. The molecular weight of thepoly(methyl methacrylate), when glucose and galactose are added to the reaction mixture, compareswell with the theoretical expected values.An explanation for these observations is the ability of the reducing sugars to reduce part of the Cu(II)species, that serves to deactivate the growing radicals, to Cu(I), thereby ensuring a shift in theequilibrium between active and dormant chains in the direction of the former and a resulting increase inthe rate of polymerization.uvNIS spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were used to investigate the mechanism behind thepolymerization rate enhancement.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University