Synthesis of dense brush polymers with cleavable grafts

We report the synthesis and characterization of dense brush polymers with hydrophobic core and cleavable hydrophobic/hydrophilic grafts. Crosslinked PMMA microspheres, nearly monodisperse were synthesized by dispersion polymerization. Acryloyl groups were generated on the surface by a two-step process of transamidation of the ester group of PMMA with ethanolamine and subsequent coupling of the hydroxyl moiety with acryloyl chloride. These surface acryloyl groups functioned as the initiation sites for graft copolymerization with desired monomer (methyl methacrylate, styrene, and acrylamide). The complete structural characterization of the brush polymers with respect to the dimensions of the core, percentage grafting and molecular weight of grafted chains and grafting density has been carried out.