The synthesis of heterotelechelic macroinitiators

CHED 509

Tatyana Tomlin, ngray@mail.uttyl.edu and H. Neil Gray, ngray@mail.uttyl.edu. Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 75799
We will present our recent progress in the synthesis of heterotelechelic macroinitiators, oligomers containing a different functionality at each one of their extremities, that can be used in the preparation of unconventional triblock copolymers. Specifically, block copolymers containing monomers that are usually initiated by different processes, and block copolymers with unconventional block sequences were prepared. All polymerization processes were living to insure the preparation of copolymers with controllable block sizes and narrow molecular weight distributions. Overall, the goal of this research was to design new synthetic procedures for the development of block copolymer systems that do not suffer the limitations of conventional methods.