Synlett 2021; 32(05): 497-501
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1610764
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The Power of Transition Metals: An Unending Well-Spring of New Reactivity

Advances in Internal Plasticization of PVC: Copper-Mediated Atom-Transfer Radical Polymerization from PVC Defect Sites To Form Acrylate Graft Copolymers

Longbo Li
a   Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
,
Yanika Schneider
b   EAG Laboratories, 810 Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA
,
Adrienne B. Hoeglund
c   EAG Laboratories, 2672 Metro Blvd, Maryland Heights, MS 63043, USA
,
Rebecca Braslau
a   Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
› Author Affiliations
We gratefully acknowledge research funding from the National Science Foundation (DMR-1404550).


Dedicated to Barry Trost: celebrating a lifetime of exploring the beauty of transition-metal catalysis in organic synthesis.

Abstract

Internally plasticized PVC copolymers were prepared by grafting PVC with butyl acrylate and 2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)ethyl acrylate by atom-transfer radical polymerization, resulting in well-behaved polymers with a wide range of glass transition temperatures (–54 °C to 54 °C). When the grafted side chains made up more than 50% of the polymer by weight, the glass transition temperatures were below 0 °C. The covalent attachment of the plasticizing grafts requires one simple procedure starting from commercial PVC, making this strategy an industrially relevant and environmentally friendly alternative to the use of conventional small-molecule plasticizers.

Supporting Information



Publication History

Received: 07 December 2020

Accepted: 15 January 2021

Article published online:
12 February 2021

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