Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(styrene-b-n-butyl acrylate-b-styrene) Triblock Copolymers Using a Dialkoxyamine as Initiator

This study investigates the ability of a novel difunctional alkoxyamine based on N - tert -butyl-1-diethylphosphono-2,2-dimethylpropyl nitroxide (SG1) to serve as initiator for the controlled radical polymerization of styrene (S) and n -butyl acrylate ( n BuA). The efficiency of this initiator was checked using three different methods. After we set up the conditions best suited to the synthesis of perfectly difunctional poly( n -butyl acrylate) (P n BuA) samples, well-defined poly(styrene- b - n -butyl acrylate- b -styrene) triblock copolymers could be obtained by sequential polymerization of the corresponding monomers. However, a loss of control of the targeted structure was observed whenever the conversion of styrene exceeded 40%.