Synthesis and characterization of silicon-containing hyperbranched polymers via thiol-ene click reaction

Novel hyperbranched organosilicon polymers were successfully prepared via step-growth thiol-ene click reaction using mercaptopropylmethyldiallylsilane (AB2) and mercaptopropyltriallylsilane (AB3) as hyperbranched monomers. The structures of the prepared polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The degree of branching (DB) of the polymers was determined using quantitative 29Si NMR spectroscopy. The DB of the polymers from AB2 and AB3 was 0.60 and 0.22, respectively. The results of thermogravimetric analysis showed that the presence of thioether does not affect the thermal stability of the resulting silicon-containing hyperbranched polymers (Si-HBs). The resulting Si-HBs can be used as promising candidate materials for heavy metal adsorption because of the thioether bond.