The Synthesis and Characterization of Carborane-Terminated Polymethyl Methacrylate via ATRP

The atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate using CuCl and various ligands catalytic system with 1-bromomethyl-carborane was investigated. Due to the aromaticity of carborane casued by the electron delocalization boron cage, carborane can be used as initiator. To determined the optimal conditions for this ATRP reaction, we studied the influences of different solvents, ratios of monomer to initiator and ratios of catalyst to ligand for polymerization, and finally determined the optimal condition for this ATRP reaction. Under the optimal condition, the polymer will show a very narrow molecular weight distribution (polydispersity index (PDI) = 1.17, measured by GPC). The apparent reaction rates of polymerization were well controlled with a linear increase and monomer conversion reached up to 94%.