Polymerization of acrylates by atom transfer radical polymerization. Homopolymerization of glycidyl acrylate

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) was applied to the homopolymerization of glycidyl acrylate (GA). This functionalized monomer can be polymerized to high conversions and high molecular weights using halogenated initiators and CuBr/4,4′-bis(5-nonyl)-2,2′-bipyridine (dNbipy) as the catalyst. The polymerizations exhibit first order kinetics and molecular weights increase linearly with conversion. The M?_n of the products is controlled by the ratio Δ[M]₀/[I]₀. The polymers obtained showed narrow molecular weight distributions, M?_w/M?_n = 1.25.