Studies of dispersant behaviour of graft copolymers in non-aqueous media

Free radical polymerisation with matched initiator and chain transfer agent has been used to produce carboxyl-terminated poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylate) homopolymers of controlled molar mass. These polymers were monofunctional with respect to carboxyl groups. The carboxyl terminated polymers were converted to methacrylate macromonomers via one of two methods. The first route used an acyl chloride intermediate. The second involved an epoxide ring opening reaction. The acyl chloride method gave macromonomers with high functionality (>0.9), whilst the epoxide method gave typical functionalities of 0.5. The macromonomers were characterised by Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) and Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1 H NMR) spectroscopy. [Continues.]