Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Hexadecyl Acrylate Using CuSCN as the Catalyst

The atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of hexadecyl acrylate (HDA) was carried out in Ν,Ν-dimethylformamide (DMF) in the presence of CuSCN/Ν,Ν,Ν′,Ν"Ν"-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA). The results indicate that the polymerization is well-controlled: a linear increase of molecular weights occurs with respect to conversion and the polydispersities are relatively low. In particular, the use of CuSCN as the catalyst resulted in faster polymerization rates for hexadecyl acrylate than did those using either CuBr or CuCl; the polydis-persity, however, was larger than those obtained in the cases when CuBr and CuCl were used. In addition, we report the thermodynamic data and activation parameters for the solution ATRP of hexadecyl acrylate.