title: Facile Access to Hydroxy-Functional Core-Shell Microspheres via Grafting of Ethylene Oxide by Anionic Ring-Opening Polymerization.
abstract: We present a facile access route to hydroxy-functional narrow disperse microspheres of well-defined grafting density (GD). Ethylene oxide has been grafted from highly crosslinked poly(divinyl benzene) microspheres by anionic ring-opening polymerization using sec-butyllithium as activator together with the phosphazene base t-BuP(4) . Initially, core microspheres have been prepared by precipitation polymerization utilizing divinyl benzene (DVB, 80 wt.-%). The grafting of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) from the surface resulted in the formation of functional core-shell microspheres with hydroxy-terminal end groups. The number average particle diameter of the grafted microspheres was 3.6 µm and the particle weight increased by 5.7%. The microspheres were characterized by SEM, FT-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and fluorescence microscopy. The surface GD (determined via two methods) was 1.65 ± 0.06 and 2.09 ± 0.08 chains · nm(-2) , respectively.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Joso
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reinicke
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmalz
authors.forename: Axel H E
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Leonie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barner