Chemical modification of polyaniline by N‐grafting of polystyrene synthesized via ATRP

Abstract

Abstract The N‐substituted polyaniline (PANi) was synthesized by incorporation of bromine‐terminated polystyrene (PS‐Br) onto the emeraldine form of polyaniline. End brominated polystyrene was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technique and then deprotonated polyaniline was reacted with PS‐Br to prepare PS‐grafted PANi (PS‐ g ‐PANi) copolymer through N‐grafting reaction. The degree of N‐grafting can be controlled by adjusting the molar feed ratio of PS‐Br to the number of repeat units of PANi. The microstructure and compositions of the PS‐ g ‐PANi copolymers with different degrees of N‐substitution were characterized by FT‐IR, elemental analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The cyclicvoltammetry shows that the electroactivity of N‐substituted PANi is strongly dependent on the degree of N‐grafting. The solubility of PS‐ g ‐PANi copolymers in common organic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and chloroform was improved by increasing the degree of N‐grafting, and also the samples are partially soluble in xylene. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007