Surface-initiated nitroxide-mediated polymerization: a tool for hybrid inorganic/organic nanocomposites in situ'synthesis

• Published in: Polymer international 2006-10, Vol.55 (10), p.1199-1207
• Main Authors: Ghannam, Leila, Parvole, Julien, Laruelle, Gael, Francois, Jeanne, Billon, Laurent
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0959-8103
• DOI: 10.1002/pi.1985

Hybrid silica particles comprised of an inorganic core and an organic polymer shell can be synthesized by surface-initiated nitroxide-mediated polymerization (SINMP) in the presence of a grafted alkoxyamine as initiator. The layer of initiator molecules attached or adsorbed to the particles surface is based on a nitroxide group. The synthesis and characterization of these alkoxyamine structures are briefly described. The grafted initiator particles are studied in order to determine the nature of the anchorage sites and the grafting density. With a stable radical or nitroxide as chain-growth moderator tethered to the inorganic core, it was demonstrated that the grafting from or to SINMP exhibits a control character with a very low polydispersity and good agreement between theoretical/experimental molecular weights. A comparative review of different alkoxyamines with a bimolecular system based on a grafted azoic initiator in the presence of an acyclic beta-phosphonylated nitroxide called SG1 is also described. Moreover, original methods for the synthesis of alkoxyamine grafted surface by in situ trapping of carbon radicals and some new developments for colored pigments will be reported. These topics could be one of the directions of the field in the next years.