Preparation of Thermo-Responsive Poly(ionic liquid)s-Based Nanogels via One-Step Cross-Linking Copolymerization

Molecules

Jing Zhang¹  Jingjiang Liu¹  Yong Zuo¹  Rongmin Wang¹  Yubing Xiong¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; E-Mails:

关键词: ionic liquids;    thermo-response;    nanogels;    cross-linking polymerization;    UCST;    CO₂ conversion;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules200917378

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this study, thermo-responsive polymeric nanogels were facilely prepared via one-step cross-linking copolymerization of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate/divinylbenzene and ionic liquid (IL)-based monomers, 1,n-dialkyl-3,3′-bis-1-vinyl imidazolium bromides ([C_nVIm]Br; n = 6, 8, 12) in selective solvents. The results revealed that stable and blue opalescent biimidazolium (BIm)-based nanogel solutions could be obtained without any precipitation when the copolymerizations were conducted in methanol. Most importantly, these novel nanogels were thermo-response, and could reversibly transform to precipitation in methanol with temperature changes. Turbidity analysis and dynamic light scatting (DLS) measurement illustrated that PIL-based nanogel solutions presented the phase transform with upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in the range of 5–25 °C. The nanogels were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, BIm-based nanogels could also be used as highly active catalysts in the cycloaddition reaction of CO₂ and epoxides. As a result, our attributes build a robust platform suitable for the preparation of polymeric nanomaterials, as well as CO₂ conversion.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.