Semiautomated parallel RAFT copolymerization of isoprene with glycidyl methacrylate.

Copolymerization of isoprene (IP) with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was performed under RAFT (reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer) polymerization conditions in a platform for combinatorial chemistry. Covering the range between 1 and 0.2 of IP in the feed, four sets of reactions were carried out at 10, 15, 20 and 30 hours at 115 °C. The kinetic data obtained was used to estimate the reactivity ratios using a non-linear least squares approach (NLLS). Reactivity ratios rGMA=0.61 and rIP=0.74 indicate that both monomers tend to crosspropagate in agreement with known literature values. Concerning the RAFT study, relatively good control and livingness of the copolymerization was observed except for the experiment in which IP represents 20% mol in the feed. 1H-NMR characterization confirmed the presence of both monomers in the final copolymer, particularly the presence of the epoxy ring of GMA which is susceptible to post polymerization reactions. Finally, preliminary results on the hydrogenation of various polymers are discussed.