RAFT polymerization of vinyl methacrylate and subsequent conjugation via enzymatic thiol‐ene chemistry

• Published in: Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry
• Main Authors: Yhaya, Firdaus, Sutinah, Arlingga, Gregory, Andrew M., Liang, Mingtao, Stenzel, Martina H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2012
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pola.26210; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fpola.26210; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/pola.26210

Abstract The polymerization of vinyl methacrylate (VMA) allows the synthesis of polymers with pendant double bonds. When this polymerization was undertaken in the presence of 2‐cyanopropyl dithiobenzoate as reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer agent, it led almost exclusively to vinylester functional sidegroups, which were available for further reactions. The vinylester functionality could not be functionalized using common thiol‐ene catalysts, but could be activated using Candida antarctica lipase B (CAL‐B) (Novozyme 435). The reaction between PVMA and various thiols in N, N ‐dimethyl formamide in the presence of CAL‐B led exclusively to the formation of the anti‐Markovnikov product. The rate of reaction between PVMA and 1‐butanethiol was monitored using 1 H NMR. The reaction was complete within 72 h. Similar results were obtained with other small‐sized thiols such as 2‐mercaptoethanol, 3‐mercaptopropionic acid, and 2‐(trimethylsilyl)ethanethiol, while more bulky thiols, such as secondary thiols, thiols with long alkyl chains, and sterically demanding thiols, such as mono(6‐deoxy‐6‐mercapto)‐β‐cyclodextrin, only led to lower conversions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012