Tailoring of water‐soluble cellulose‐<i>g</i>‐ copolymers in homogeneous medium using single‐electron‐transfer living radical polymerization

Abstract

Abstract Cellulose‐ graft ‐polyacrylamide and cellulose‐ graft ‐poly( N , N ‐dimethylacrylamide) copolymers were prepared by single‐electron‐transfer living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) in homogeneous medium. Cellulose macroinitiators for SET‐LRP, with different numbers of initiating sites along the cellulose backbone, were successfully synthesized by direct acylation of cellulose with 2‐bromoisobutyryl bromide in LiCl/dimethylacetamide. Dynamic light scattering revealed that cellulose macroinitiator molecules in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) exist primarily as individual chains with a certain amount of intermolecular aggregates. SET‐LRP of acrylamide and N , N ‐dimethylacrylamide with the cellulose macroinitiators was carried out in DMSO solution. Formation of cellulose‐ graft ‐copolymers was confirmed using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR spectroscopy, and the products were water‐soluble. High content of poly( N , N ‐dimethylacrylamide) in the copolymers enhanced the thermal stability relative to that of cellulose. Scanning electron microscopy studies of cellulose‐based particles formed from the copolymers using the aerosol flow reactor method revealed spherical nanoscale structures. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry