Selective cleavage of polymer grafts from solid surfaces: assessment of initiator content and polymer characteristicsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Complete experimental information and results from FT-IR and UV analyses. See DOI: 10.1039/c0py00388c

A novel initiator for atom transfer radical polymerization, also allowing for selective cleavage of polymer grafts, was designed and immobilized on a solid substrate. After cleavage, the initiator content was determined by utilizing Ellman's reagent and the cleaved polymer grafts were isolated and characterized by size exclusion chromatography. Polymer grafts are selectively cleaved from a solid surface by utilizing a novel initiator comprising a disulfide linkage, also rendering it possible to determine the initiator content using Ellman's reagent.