Synthesis of silylated styrenic monomers and copolymerization with 1,3-cyclohexadiene. nanoporous and nanorelief composite materials

POLY 460

Apostolos Avgeropoulos, aavger@cc.uoi.gr, Konstantinos Misichronis, and Sofia Rangou. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Ioannina, University Campus - Dourouti, Administration Building, Ioannina -45110, Greece
By using anionic polymerization and controlled chlorosilane chemistry, we were able to synthesize silylated monomers that have not been extensively studied in the literature. The most difficult procedure was the organic synthesis of the monomer. This was due to the existence of volatile reagents resulting in a coexistence of para products (offal), especially of p-chlrostyrene's, before the purification of poly(trimethyl silylstyrene). This observation was proved from the GC-MS results. The main purpose of this research was not only to synthesize the dimethylsilylstyrene, but also pentamethylsilylstyrene and heptamethylsilylstyrene. After the polymerization of the monomers their properties will be compared to these of simple PS. The synthesis of diblock and triblock (ABA) copolymers will be the major objective and compare their behaviour on nanopores or nanorelief composites with the corresponding structures observed in the literature.