ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Applicability of photochemically generated pendant benzoyl peroxides in both “grafting from” and “grafting to” techniques

Jaroslav Mosnáček, Ivan Lukáč, Monica Bertoldo, and Francesco Ciardelli

Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: jaroslav.mosnacek@savba.sk

Abstract: Methyl methacrylate and styrene copolymers containing pendant benzil groups, such as 1-[4-(2-methacroyloxyethoxy)phenyl]-2-phenyl-1,2-ethanedione-co-methyl metacrylate (BzMA/MMA), 1-[4-(2-methacroyloxyethoxy)phenyl]-2-phenyl-1,2-ethanedione-co-styrene (BzMA/S), and 1-phenyl-2-(4-propenoylphenyl)-1,2-ethanedione-co-styrene (PCOCO/S), were prepared and used as precursors for photochemically generated pendant benzoyl peroxides. Decomposition of the pendant benzoyl peroxides was subsequently used in grafting processes. Either irradiation or a combination of irradiation with subsequent thermal treatment was adopted for grafting a thin layer of BzMA/MMA copolymer onto the surface of LDPE films. The grafting resulted in a significant decrease in contact angle of the film surface. The same activation strategy was successfully adopted to initiate the polymerisation of acrylic or methacrylic acids from the surface of styrene copolymer films containing the initiator precursor in the polymer side chains (BzMA/S and PCOCO/S). The successful surface grafting was proved by contact angles measurement as well as by infrared spectroscopic analysis.

Keywords: photografting – surface modification – photo-initiator – cross-linking – increased hydrophilicity

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-012-0250-3

Chemical Papers 67 (1) 9–17 (2013)