Hu, Xiaochuan, Michael T. Blanda, Sreenu R. Venumbaka, Patrick E. Cassidy and John W. Fitch. RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF FLUORINE-CONTAINING ACRYLATE MONOMER IN SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE
Waste Minimization and Management Research Center, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666 (reddy@swt.edu)
Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) possesses many properties that have allowed it to emerge as the most extensively studied supercritical fluid for polymerization reactions. Recent research in our laboratories, showed that SC CO2 is a viable and promising alternative to traditional solvents used in polymer synthesis. The fluorinated acrylate monomer was prepared by reacting 1-(hexafluoro-2-hydroxy-2-propyl)-3-(hexafluoro-2-methoxy-2-propyl)benzene with acryloyl chloride. The home- and copolymerizations with methylacrylate and 1H,1H-perfluorooctyl acrylate were performed by a free radical polymerization technique by using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as a initiator in SC CO2 and a conventional solvent, toluene. Polymers obtained from SC CO2 exhibited higher molecular weights compared with those obtained in benzene and these weights (Mw) ranged from 6,000 to 10,000. Thermal stabilities of these polymers are at about 330° C. The synthesis and characterization of these polymers will be presented.