Optimization of Synthesis of Poly (vinylbenzyl chloride) by RAFT Polymerisation

One of the versatile radical polymerisation techniques, the reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) process, was used to synthesize the bifunctional monomer, vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) into poly(vinylbenzyl chloride) (PVBC). The RAFT polymerisation technique is widely used because of the commercially available RAFT agent. The right choice of the RAFT agent will result in a good polymerisation. Temperature of 60°C and 80°C were chosen in this research study. The other conditions such as the purging and reaction time, the ratio of monomer/initiator for the control of VBC polymerisation were kept constant for all reaction. The reactions were monitored by ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR) in the presence of deuterated chloroform as the internal standard and Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR-FTIR). The highest monomer conversion was 57.7 % at 80°C for 24 hours.