Synthesis of star polymethyl acrylate by SET-LRP at ambient temperature

The star-shaped polymethyl acrylate (PMA) was synthesized by single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) at 30 °C in dimethyl sulfoxide, using 2,2-dibromomethyl-1,3-dibromopropane as the multifunctional initiator, Cu⁰ powder and tris-(2-dimethylamino ethyl)amine (Me₆-TREN) as catalyst. The structure of polymer was analyzed by ¹H NMR, and the results showed that the star-shaped PMA had perfect chain ends (–Br) retention. In addition, the polymerization proceeded smoothly and the time dependence of ln(M]₀/M]) was linear, which could indicate a first order propagation rate with respect to both radicals and monomer concentration, the polymerization was the living polymerization. The M _n and M _w/M _n of polymer were being measured by Gel Permeation Chromatography. The k _p^app = 0.0367 h⁻¹ and the conversion was 36.3% at 16 h, meanwhile the M _n^GPC of the polymer was 13,300 and the M _w/M _n was 1.40.