Synthesis of Arborescent Copolymers by a One‐Pot Method

Abstract A “grafting from” scheme was developed for the preparation of arborescent copolymers in one single reactor, by anionic copolymerization of styrene with 1,3‐diisopropenylbenzene and activation of the pendent isopropenyl moieties with sec‐butyllithium. Arborescent polystyrene‐graft‐poly(tert‐butyl methacrylate) copolymers were thus obtained by addition of tert‐butyl methacrylate to linear and G0 macroinitiators, respectively. Arborescent polystyrene‐graft‐[polystyrene‐block‐poly(2‐vinylpyridine)] copolymers were also synthesized by successive additions of styrene and 2‐vinylpyridine to the same macroinitiators. The copolymers were characterized by SEC‐MALLS and 1H NMR analysis. magnified image