Cellulose-based macroinitiator for crosslinked poly(butyl methacrylate-co-pentaerythritol triacrylate) oil-absorbing materials by SET-LRP

Cellulose produced from cotton fibers was used as substrate for synthesis of oil-absorbing materials by single electron transfer-living radical polymerization. The cellulose macroinitiator was prepared by esterification of hydroxyl group with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide (BiBB), followed by grafting with butyl methacrylate (BMA) and pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) to render a three-dimensional architecture. The polymerization was catalyzed by Cu(0) powder/hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and performed in N , N -dimethylformamide (DMF). Effects of cellulose, catalyst, reaction temperature, and time were investigated in detail. The maximum oil absorption to chloroform and toluene could reach 29.0 and 15.4 g·g −1 , respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013