Synthesis of Thermoresponsive Hairy Particles by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Methoxydi(ethylene glycol) Methacrylate

摘要

Organic/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles have attracted growing interest due to their intriguing properties associated with the core and the desired properties of polymers (processibility, compatibility to the environment, etc.) If the shell is composed of polymer chains that are densely tethered by one end via a covalent bond to the surface of core particle, hairy nanoparticles are obtained as polymer chains are forced to stretch away from the grafting sites forming polymer brushes -2 Two approaches have been used to chemically attach polymer chains to a surface: the "grafting to" method, in which the end-functionalized polymers react with an appropriate surface; the "grafting from" method, in which polymer chains are grown from initiator-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) -4 Well-defined polymer brushes with controlled molecular weights and relatively narrow polydispersities have been synthesized by use of surface-initiated controlled/"living" polymerizations -4 In this preprint, we report on the synthesis of thermosensitive polymer brushes on silica nanoparticles by surface- initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methoxydi(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (DEGMMA) and the thermo- induced transition in water.