Synthesis of star-shaped polymers by coupling reaction between multifunctional core and terminal functionalized polymers

Star-shaped polymers that consist of well-defined polystyrene (PS) arms were successfully synthesized in high yield by coupling reaction between multifunctional core molecules and hydroxyl-terminated PS in the presence of 1, 3-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and 4-(dimethylamino) pyridine at room temperature. Several systems were investigated: (1) Pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and hydroxyl-terminated PS (PS-OH) with narrow molecular weight distribution, which was prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of St with 2-hydroxyethyl bromoisobutylate (HEBiB) as initiator. (2) PMDA and PS-OH prepared by conventional free radical polymerization, with 2-mercaptoethanol as chain transfer agent. (3) Narrow molecular weight distributed alternating copolymer of maleic anhydride (MA) and styrene (St), which was obtained via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) process, and PS-OH obtained by ATRP. The formation of star-shaped PSs was confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC).