Abstract
The molecular design of novel patchwork-type network polymers originated in multiallyl crosslinking polymerization is based on the pursuit of the inhomogeneous crosslinked polymers biased toward the microgel greatly deviated from Flory-Stockmayer gelation theory. Thus, the patchwork-type network polymers were prepared by patching two kinds of core-shell type dendritic network polymer precursors (NPPs) consisting of oligomeric primary polymer chains with opposite polarities. 2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate/nonaethylene glycol dimethacrylate and benzyl methacrylate/heptapropylene glycol dimethacrylate copolymerizations were carried out radically in Me0H and t-butylbenzene, respectively, at a dilution of 1/5 in the presence of lauryl mercaptan to provide polar and nonpolar NPPs. Both types of NPPs were post-copolymerized using amphiphilic NPPs as compatibilizers. A detailed characterization of the patches of patchwork-type network polymer was done using SEC-MALLS-viscometry, providing the correlation of intrinsic viscosity versus molecular weight of fractionated samples. The profiles of the solvent-component dependencies of the swelling ratios of patchwork-type network polymer gels were characteristic of amphiphilic gels.
