Living free radical polymerization of styrene with 2-cyanoprop-2-yl dithionaphthalate as RAFT agent

Abstract The reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) bulk polymerization of styrene was studied using 2-cyanoprop-2-yl dithionaphthalate (CPDN) as RAFT agent in the presence or absence of 2,2’-azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN). The results of both thermally and AIBN-initiated styrene (St) polymerizations show that St can be polymerized in a controlled way using CPDN as RAFT agent; i.e., the polymerization rate is first order with respect to monomer concentration, and molecular weight increases linearly with monomer conversion. The molecular weights obtained from gel permeation chromatography are close to the theoretical values and molecular weight distributions are relatively narrow (Mw/Mn < 1.2). It is confirmed by chain extension reaction that the polymer prepared via RAFT polymerization can be used as a macroRAFT agent. The effects of reaction temperature and mole ratios [St]0/[CPDN]0/[AIBN]0 on the polymerization were investigated. The results indicate that the reaction temperature has a positive effect on the polymerization rate, but little effect on molecular weight and molecular weight distribution, and the optimum mole ratios were found to be [CPDN]0/[AIBN]0 > 4/3 and [St]0/[CPDN]0 < 800.