Synthesis of well‐designed polymers carrying saccharide moieties via RAFT miniemulsion polymerization

Two hydrophobic vinyl saccharide monomers based on D‐glucose and D‐fructose were polymerized by employing the reversible addition‐fragmentation transfer (RAFT) miniemulsion polymerization technique to prepare well‐designed glycopolymers. Three dithiobenzoate‐RAFT agents [SC(Ph)SR], 1‐phenylethyl dithiobenzoate (PED), 2‐phenylprop‐2‐yl dithiobenzoate (PPD), and 2‐cyanoprop‐2‐yl dithiobenzoate (CPD), were used to control the growth of polymer chains. The best results were obtained in the presence of the PPD‐RAFT agent and the formed polymers have polydispersity index's (PDI) lower than 1.15. Under adequate miniemulsion polymerization conditions, a glycopolymer with PDI of 1.1 and molecular weight of 5 × 104 g/mol has been successfully synthesized in a short reaction time of 100 min. Furthermore, some block copolymers containing saccharide segment with butyl or methyl methacrylate were prepared.