| Summary: | Terpenes are renewable hydrocarbons found in nature. Their structural common characteristic is that they all contain unsaturated double bonds. However, early research has proven that homo polymerisation of these terpenes requires extreme conditions and results in low molecular weight polymers.1, 2 Modification of these terpenes in two steps via hydroboration/oxidation and esterification respectively to produce a library of terpene (methacrylates) was carried out in the group.1 In this study, α-Pinene Methacrylate (α-PMA) was the monomer under investigation.
This work focuses on the polymerisation of α-PMA via catalytic chain transfer polymerisation (CCTP) and thiol chain transfer agents with the aim to yield oligomers. The polymerisation of α-PMA via CCTP has been carried out using two different methods. The first uses a pre – prepared catalyst and second sees the formation of the catalyst ‘in-situ’. The results of these experiments will be compared to establish which most effectively produces Poly (α-PMA) oligomers. Alongside this, the termination mechanism of free radical polymerisation of α-PMA has also been studied, with a preference towards disproportion being observed. In addition, thiol chain transfer agents were also studied for yield the P(α-PMA) oligomers.
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