| Controlled radical polymerization (CRP) combines the benefits of the robust nature of conventional radical polymerization with the ability to prepare advanced macromolecular architectures common to living polymerization techniques. Of the major CRP techniques, the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) technique appears to be the most tolerant of aqueous reaction conditions and a variety of monomer functionalities. To date, however, there have been no reports of the RAFT polymerization of acrylamide or a cationic (meth)acrylamido monomer directly in aqueous media. The extension of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to the synthesis of well defined polymers of acrylamide (58) and N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl] methacrylamide (DMAPMA, 64) has been investigated. The effect of polymerization conditions on the polymerization kinetics, molecular weight control, and blocking ability were examined. |
