Polymer Engineering Faculty Research

Title

Synthesis of omega-sulfonated polystyrene via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization and postpolymerization modification

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-15-2011

Abstract

The synthesis of chain-end sulfonated polystyrene [PS (ω-sulfonated PS)] by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization followed by postpolymerization modification was investigated by two methods. In the first method, the polymer was converted to a thiol-terminated polymer by aminolysis. This polymer was then sulfonated by oxidation of the thiol end-group with m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (m-CPBA) to produce a sulfonic acid end-group. In the second method, the RAFT-polymerized polymer was directly sulfonated by oxidation with m-CPBA. After purification by column chromatography, ω-sulfonated PS was obtained by both methods with greater than 95% end-group functionality as measured by titration. The sulfonic acid end-group could be neutralized with various ammonium or imidazolium counter ions through acid–base or ionic metathesis reactions. The effect of the ionic end-groups on the glass transition temperature of the PS was found to be consistent with what is known for PS ionomers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011

Publication Title

Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry

Volume

49

Issue

23

First Page

5100

Last Page

5108

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