Synthesis of hyperbranched polymers by PET-RAFT SCVP

Hyperbranched polymers have gained increasing importance in recent years due to the advantages they offer. Although various methods are available for synthesizing these types of polymers, the self-condensing vinyl polymerization (SCVP) method is the most commonly used technique. The SCVP method, when combined with different controlled polymerization techniques, enables the successful synthesis of a wide range of polymers. Within this context, in this study, hyperbranched polymer synthesis was achieved by adapting the Photoinduced Electron/Energy Transfer Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization (PET-RAFT) method, one of the controlled radical polymerization techniques, to the self-condensing vinyl polymerization (SCVP) method. The approach is based on the use of 2-(2-(n-butyl trithiocarbonate)-propionate) ethyl acrylate (BTPEA), a molecule functioning as both an initiator and monomer (inimer). Considering that BTPEA serves as the branching agent, polymers with varying degrees of branching were obtained by altering the proportion of BTPEA. Additionally, the effect of reaction time on polymerization was examined. Furthermore, due to the inherent RAFT agent units present in the obtained polymers, the structures were used as macroinitiators in the PET-RAFT copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) to produce amphiphilic copolymers. The resulting hyperbranched polymeric structures were characterized using 1H NMR, GPC, WCA, and FT-IR.