Preparation of Crosslinked Poly(2‐bromoethyl methacrylate) Microspheres and Decoration of Their Surfaces with Functional Polymer Brushes

Abstract

AbstractSynthesis and crosslinking copolymerization of 2‐bromoethylmethacrylate in aqueous suspension is described for preparing bromoalkyl‐functional microbeads (125–420 µm). Highly transparent microspheres with a density of accessible bromoethyl groups of 1.55 mmol · g−1 were prepared in the suspension, stabilized with poly(N‐vinyl pyrrolidone), by using methyl methacrylate as diluting co‐monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker. Bromoalkyl groups on the microparticles were employed as initiation sites for either surface‐initiated ATRP of glycidyl methacrylate or ring‐opening polymerization of 2‐methyl‐2‐oxazoline to generate epoxy‐ and N‐acetylethyleneimine‐functional hairy grafts, tethered to the particle surfaces with hydrolytically stable linkages.magnified image