Alkyne–azide coupling of tailored poly(vinylidene fluoride) and polystyrene for the synthesis of block copolymers

Abstract

The synthesis of block copolymers consisting of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and polystyrene (PS) is reported. Firstly, a propargyl-functionalized alkoxyamine initiator (PgOTIPNO) was prepared and subsequently used for the preparation of a propargyl-terminated PS homopolymer of different chain lengths with low dispersities via nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization. A tailored PVDF homopolymer with iodine end groups originating from iodine transfer polymerization was transformed to PVDF with azide end group. Then, alkyne-terminated PS with different molecular weights and azide-terminated PVDF were joined together via copper-catalyzed alkyne–azide coupling. The block copolymers were characterized using ¹H-NMR, ¹⁹F-NMR, IR, SEC, and DSC.