UV-induced Self-initiated Graft Polymerization of Acrylamide onto Poly(ether ether ketone)

Photo-grafting of hydrophilic monomer was used to enhance the hydrophilicity of poly（ether ether ketone） （PEEK） with the aim of extending its applications to biological fields. PEEK sheets were surface modified by grafting of acrylamide（AAm） with ultraviolet（UV） irradiation in the presence or absence of benzophenone（BP）. The effects of BP, irradiation time and monomer concentration on the surface wettability of PEEK were investigated. Characteriza tion of modified PEEK using scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, energy-disperse spectrometer（EDS） and water contact angle measurements shows that AAm was successfully grafted on PEEK surface both in presence and absence of BP. With the increase in irradiation time and monomer concentration, contact angles decrease to as low as 30°, demonstrating a significant improvement of surface hydrophilicity. In agreement with the decrease in contact angle, under identical conditions, the nitrogen concentration increases, suggesting the increase in grafting degree of the grafting polymerization. This investigation demonstrates a self-initiation of PEEK due to its BP-like structure in the backbone of the polymer. Though the graft polymerization proceeds more readily in the presence of BP, the self-initiated graft polymerization is clearly observed.

CuSO_4 -CATALYZED SELF-INITIATED RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF 2-(N,N- DIMETHYLAMINO)ETHYL METHACRYLATE AS AN INTRINSICALLY REDUCING INIMER

Since tertiary amines （Cα-H） can be oxidized by peroxides and transition metal cations in high oxidation states into Ca2＋ radicals to initiate vinylic polymerizations of methacrylates, Cu2＋ and 2-（N,N-dimethylamino）ethyl methacrylate （DMAEMA） form a polymerizable redox initiating pair, in which DMAEMA serves as an intrinsically reducing inimer. CuSOa-catalyzed aqueous self-initiated radical polymerizations of DMAEMA were successfully performed at ambient temperature via a continuous Cu2＋-tertiary amine redox initiation based on catalyst regeneration in the presence of O2. The polymerization kinetics was monitored by gas chromatography and the structure of PDMAEMA was characterized by gel- permeation chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, laser light scattering and online intrinsic-viscosity analysis. Both the monomer conversion and the molecular weight of PDMAEMA increase with the reaction while the molecular weight distribution maintains rather broad, as the Cu2＋-DMAEMA redox-initiation leads to linear PDMAEMA chains with terminal methacryloxyl moieties, and the Cu2＋-PDMAEMA redox-initiation results in branched chains. The branched topology forms and develops only for the high-MW components of the PDMAEMA. Our results provide a facile strategy to prepare branched polymers from such commercially available intrinsically reducing inimers using a negligible concentration of regenerative air-stable catalysts.