Living anionic polymerization of
acrylates is challenging due to
intrinsic side reactions including backbiting reactions of propagating
enolate anions and aggregation of active chain ends. In this study,
the controlled synthesis of poly(1-adamatyl acrylate) (PAdA) was performed
successfully for the first time via living anionic polymerization
through investigation of the initiation systems of sec-butyllithium/diphenylethylene/lithium chloride (sec-BuLi/DPE/LiCl), diphenylmethylpotassium/diethylzinc
(DPMK/Et2Zn), and sodium naphthalenide/dipenylethylene/diethylzinc
(Na-Naph/DPE/Et2Zn) in tetrahydrofuran at −78 °C
using custom glass-blowing and high-vacuum techniques. PAdA synthesized
via anionic polymerization using DPMK with a large excess (more than
40-fold to DPMK) of Et2Zn as the ligand exhibited predicted
molecular weights from 4.3 to 71.8 kg/mol and polydispersity indices
of around 1.10. In addition, the produced PAdAs exhibit a low level
of isotactic content (mm triads of 2.1%). The block copolymers of
AdA and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were obtained by sequential anionic
polymerization, and the distinct living property of PAdA over other
acrylates was demonstrated based on the observation that the resulting
PAdA-b-PMMA block copolymers were formed with no
residual PAdA homopolymer. The PAdA homopolymers exhibit a very high
glass transition temperature (133 °C) and outstanding thermal
stability (T
d: 376 °C) as compared
to other acrylic polymers such as poly(tert-butyl
acrylate) and poly(methyl acrylate). These merits make PAdA a promising
candidate for acrylic-based thermoplastic elastomers with high upper
service temperature and enhanced mechanical strength.