One-pot reversible complexation-mediated polymerization (RCMP) from benzylic alcohols for facile access to polymer-grafted lignin

• Main Authors: Jiang, Bo, Zheng, Yichao, Goto, Atsushi
• Other Authors: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Chemistry; Grafting; Lignin
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174629
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

One-pot synthesis of methacrylic and acrylic polymers from benzylic alcohols (R-OH) used as initiating moieties was developed. R-OH was converted to alkyl iodide (R-I), and the generated R-I was used as an initiator without purification or isolation in the subsequent reversible complexation mediated polymerization (RCMP), leading to one-pot RCMP from R-OH. As a useful application, this technique was exploited for one-pot polymer-grafting from lignin that is the second most abundant renewable carbon-source on earth and bears benzylic alcohols. The direct initiation from lignin eliminates tedious initiator attachment and purification, offering a facile access to polymer-grafted lignin. The obtained polymer-grafted lignin was utilized to form an efficient UV-absorbing film with high transparency in visible region. One-pot RCMP may serve as a practical method to obtain value-added functional lignin-polymer composites.