New approaches to the synthesis of functionalized fluorine-containing polymers

The synthesis of functional fluorinated copolymers, containing a reactive lateral group, , is a multistage procedure. Different methods of synthesizing such compounds were developed and optimized to get efficient fluorinated monomers with various functional groups and X spacer. The copolymerization of these functional co-monomers (1) with commercially available fluoroalkenes (2) offers a wide range of novel functionalized fluoropolymers (3) with interesting properties such as: ion-exchange and catalytic properties, cross-linking, solubility, compatibility, better adhesion, etc. polymers of fluoroalkenes with ω-functional trifluorovinyl co-monomers were prepared in bulk, solution or emulsion, using free radical initiators and in some cases, redox systems. The other copolymers were synthesized by radiation-induced polymerization or grafting of functionalized co-monomers onto fluorinated films. The performance of some newly developed monomers are discussed in terms of efficiency, reactivity, polymerization mechanism and the main properties of the polymers synthesized. These characteristics (thermal, chemical and mechanical, cross-linking properties, ion-exchange capacity, electro-conductivity, etc.) are discussed, in consideration of the growing use of these materials for specific applications, such as elastomers or coatings with excellent thermal and chemical stability, fluorinated ion-exchange membranes, polymers with low surface energy and others.