Comb polymers prepared by ATRP from hydroxypropyl cellulose
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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Facile and Efficient Preparation of Tri-component Fluorescent Glycopolymers via RAFT-controlled Polymerization
Published on: June 19, 2015
Emma Ostmark1, Simon Harrisson, Karen L Wooley
1Royal Institute of Technology, KTH Fibre and Polymer Technology, Teknikringen 56-58, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract:
Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) was used as a core molecule for controlled grafting of monomers by ATRP, the aim being to produce densely grafted comb polymers. HPC was either allowed to react with an ATRP initiator or the first generation initiator-functionalized 2,2-bis(methylol)propionic acid dendron to create macroinitiators having high degrees of functionality. The macroinitiators were then "grafted from" using ATRP of methyl methacrylate (MMA) or hexadecyl methacrylate. Block copolymers were obtained by chain extending PMMA-grafted HPCs via the ATRP of tert-butyl acrylate. Subsequent selective acidolysis of the tert-butyl ester moieties was performed to form a block of poly(acrylic acid) resulting in amphiphilic block copolymer grafts. The graft copolymers were characterized by 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopies, DSC, TGA, rheological measurements, DLS, and tapping mode AFM on samples spin coated upon mica. It was found that the comb (co)polymers were in the nanometer size range and that the dendronization had an interesting effect on the rheological properties.
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