Abstract:

In the ionic liquid of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, atom transfer radical polymerization of acrylamide(AM) was completed with benzyl chloride as the initiator and cuprous chloride/2,2′-bipyridine as catalyst. The structural analysis of the resulting polymer via IR spectrometry demonstrates its terminal has —Cl end group. The effects of initiator amount, monomer amount and reaction time on the ATRP of AM are studied, and the results show that when the reaction time is 1.5 h, the conversion is 31.43%, M_n^GPC=4451 and M_w/M_n=1.38 in ionic liquid at 80 ℃. The best conditions of polymerization are as follows:the monomer concentration is 3 mol/L, the initiator concentration is 0.010 mol/L, the catalyst concentration is 0.015 mol/L, and the rection time is 1 h.

Key words: Ionic liquid, AM, Homopolymerization, Atom transfer radical polymerization