Stereoregulation of thermoresponsive polymer brushes by surface-initiated living radical polymerization and the effect of tacticity on surface wettability

Naokazu Idota; Kenichi Nagase; Keiji Tanaka; Teruo Okano; Masahiko Annaka

doi:10.1021/la1024229

Stereoregulation of thermoresponsive polymer brushes by surface-initiated living radical polymerization and the effect of tacticity on surface wettability

Langmuir. 2010 Dec 7;26(23):17781-4. doi: 10.1021/la1024229. Epub 2010 Nov 1.

Authors

Naokazu Idota¹, Kenichi Nagase, Keiji Tanaka, Teruo Okano, Masahiko Annaka

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.

PMID: 21038851
DOI: 10.1021/la1024229

Abstract

In this study, stereocontrolled poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PIPAAm) brushes were grafted from surfaces by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in the presence of a Lewis acid, and the effect of PIPAAm brush tacticity on the thermoresponsive wettabiliy was investigated. PIPAAm grafted by ATRP in the presence of Y(OTf)(3) showed high isotacticity, while the control brush polymerized in the absence of Y(OTf)(3) was clearly atactic. The isotacticity and molecular weight of PIPAAm brushes were controlled by polymerization conditions. The wettability of isotactic PIPAAm-grafted surfaces decreased slightly below 10 °C, although the phase transition temperature of atactic surface was 30 °C, and the bulk isotactic polymer was water-insoluble between 5 and 45 °C.