Controlled/living free-radical copolymerization of allyl glycidyl ether with methyl acrylate under 60Co γ-ray irradiation

An investigation on the copolymerization of allyl glycidyl ether (AGE), an epoxy-functional monomer, with methyl acrylate (MA) was performed in the presence of benzyl 1H-imidazole-1-carbodithioate (BICDT) under 60Co γ-ray irradiation. The polymerizations revealed good characteristics of RAFT process. The content of AGE incorporation into the copolymer increased with higher monomer conversion and higher molar fraction of the AGE in the monomer feed. However, the polymerization could slow down when the fraction of AGE increased in the monomer feed, which might be attributed to the low activity of AGE. Taking advantage of RAFT process, functional block copolymer poly(AGE/MA)-block-poly(styrene) was prepared in the presence of poly(styrene) macroRAFT agent, and the copolymer was characterized by 1H NMR spectra and GPC.