Synthesis and thermal properties of poly(vinylcyclohexane)-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine) diblock copolymers prepared via RAFT polymerization

A series of novel poly(vinylcyclohexane)- poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PVCH-b-P4VP) diblock copolymers have been synthesized through a combination of anionic and RAFT polymerization techniques. Using this approach, end functionalized ω-hydroxy-polystyrene was used to yield ω-hydroxy-PVCH by hydrogenation followed by end-functionalization via an esterification reaction with 2-(dodecylthiocarbonothioylthio)-2-methylpropionic acid to yield PVCH-RAFT agent. The crossover propagation from PVCH-RAFT to 4VP displays living character and allowed generating diblock copolymers with well-defined molecular compositions. The characterization of the resulted polymers was performed using H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier-transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopies, size-exclusion chromatography with light-scattering detector (SEC-LS), and the thermal properties were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).