Preparation of anthracene-labelled poly(methyl methacrylate) via atom transfer radical polymerization

Abstract

Anthracene-labelled poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was prepared via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) where 9,10-bis(chloromethyl)anthracene and CuCl/2,2'-bipyridine were used as the initiator and catalyst, respectively. Both the linear increase of the number average molecular mass with conversion and the narrow polydispersity in the resulting polymers suggest that the polymerization proceeds in a "living" fashion and the anthracene molecule is incorporated into the middle of the polymer backbone. The initiation efficiency was low, ca. 13%, presumably due to some side reactions which compete with the initiation reaction.