Characterization of Randomly Branched Polymers Formed by End-Linking Linear Polystyrene Using Controlled Free Radical Polymerization

Pascal Ourdouillie (1) , Philippe Chaumont (2) , Françoise Méchin (1) , Michel Dumon (1, 3) , Dominique Durand (4) , Taco Nicolai (4)

1 IMP - Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères
2 IMP-LMPB - Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères - Laboratoire des Matériaux Polymères et des Biomatériaux
3 LCPO - Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques
4 PCI - Polymères, colloïdes, interfaces

Randomly branched polystyrene (PS) was synthesized by end-linking monodisperse linear PS chains with divinylbenzene using controlled free radical polymerization. Samples obtained at different reaction extents were characterized using size exclusion chromatography and static and dynamic light scattering. The results are compared with those obtained on randomly branched poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The overal structure of branched PS was found to be the same as that of branched PMMA despite the very different local structure. The results strongly support the idea that the formation of polymeric gels is a universal process that may be described by the percolation model.

Domaines: Polymères

Pascal Ourdouillie, Philippe Chaumont, Françoise Méchin, Michel Dumon, Dominique Durand, et al.. Characterization of Randomly Branched Polymers Formed by End-Linking Linear Polystyrene Using Controlled Free Radical Polymerization. Macromolecules, 2001, 34 (12), pp.4109-4113. ⟨10.1021/ma010113i⟩. ⟨hal-02045876⟩