• Zhang, Wenhao
• Choppé, Émilie
• Fontaine, Laurent
• Montembault, Véronique
• Nicolas, Clémence

Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>Grafting‐onto and grafting‐through strategies for preparing polynorbornene‐<jats:italic>g</jats:italic>‐poly(ethylene oxide)s (PNB‐<jats:italic>g</jats:italic>‐PEO) have been developed through a combination of ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and nitroxide radical coupling (NRC). 2‐Bromoisobutyrate‐functionalized poly(ethylene oxide) monomethyl ether 2000 (PEO<jats:sub>45</jats:sub>‐Br) was successfully anchored on a 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidinyl‐1‐oxy (TEMPO)‐containing polynorbornene backbone of number‐average degree of polymerization () of 100 through the grafting‐onto strategy, resulting in PNB‐<jats:italic>g</jats:italic>‐PEO with a grafting yield ranging up to 90%. ROMP of ω‐<jats:italic>exo</jats:italic>‐norbornenyl PEO<jats:sub>45</jats:sub> monomethyl ether macromonomer issued from NRC between a nitroxide‐functionalized norbornene and PEO<jats:sub>45</jats:sub>‐Br has allowed to reach a well‐defined bottlebrush copolymer with a backboneof 100 while retaining a low dispersity of 1.09. The effect of the grafting‐onto versus grafting‐through strategy and, consequently, of the grafting density, was investigated by thermal analyses and self‐assembly properties of the PNB<jats:sub>100</jats:sub>‐<jats:italic>g</jats:italic>‐PEO<jats:sub>45</jats:sub>. A substantial reduction of crystallinity was observed for PNB‐<jats:italic>g</jats:italic>‐PEO prepared via the grafting‐through route. Preliminary study of the self‐assembling properties has shown that the graft copolymers form monodisperse spherical particles in aqueous solution. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. <jats:bold>2020</jats:bold>, <jats:italic>58</jats:italic>, 645–653</jats:p>

Topics

• density
• copolymer
• crystallinity
• bottlebrush