title: Aqueous-based initiator attachment and ATRP grafting of polymer brushes from poly(methyl methacrylate) substrates.
abstract: Many polymers, such as PMMA, are very susceptible to swelling or dissolution by organic solvents. Growing covalently attached polymer brushes from these surfaces by atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is challenging because of the typical requirement of organic solvent for initiator immobilization. We report an unprecedented, aqueous-based route to graft poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), PNIPAAm, from poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA, surfaces by ATRP, wherein the underlying PMMA is unaffected. Successful attachment of the ATRP initiator, N-hydroxysuccinimidyl-2-bromo-2-methylpropionate, on amine-bearing PMMA surfaces was confirmed by XPS. From this surface-immobilized initiator, thermoresponsive PNIPAAm brushes were grown by aqueous ATRP to yield optically transparent PNIPAAm-grafted PMMA surfaces. This procedure is valuable, as it can be applied for the aqueous-based covalent attachment of ATRP initiator on any amine-functionalized surface, with subsequent polymerization of a variety of monomers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-1804, United States.
authors.forename: Sreelatha S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Balamurugan
authors.forename: Balamurugan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Jowell G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Bolivar
authors.forename: Robin L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: McCarley
mesh_terms: D000178:Acrylamides / Q000737:chemistry; D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000588:Amines / Q000737:chemistry; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology; D058105:Polymerization; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate / Q000737:chemistry*; D011422:Propionates / Q000737:chemistry; D012995:Solubility; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000178:Acrylamides; D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000588:Amines; D011108:Polymers; D011422:Propionates; D014867:Water; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate