Principal factors affecting sequential photoinduced graft polymerization

Gel permeation chromatography was used to show that poly(ethylene glycol 200) monomethacrylate (PEG200MA) is chemically bound to polystyrene by a sequential graft polymerization in liquid solution. For the graft polymerization on solid substrates, cellulose acetate has higher photografting reactivity and poly(vinylidene fluoride) shows lower photografting reactivity, compared to that of polypropylene. It was found that acrylic acid has higher photografting reactivity than either dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate or PEG200MA. The rate of graft polymerization of AA increases linearly with increasing surface initiator concentration, as predicted by a kinetic model. The rate of the surface initiator formation follows a sequence of decreasing order in the following solvents: benzene>chloroform>hexane>methanol>cyclohexane>dimethyl sulfoxide due to the relative abstractability of hydrogen in the solvent and the wettability of the substrate by the solvent.