Novel fluoroacrylated copolymers: Synthesis, characterization and properties

Abstract

The development of polymer waveguides leads to synthesis of fluorinated amorphous polymers with high transmission capacity, potential to tune their optical properties by tailoring the molecular structure, together with good processability, easy handling, good flexibility and low cost. In this work we have investigated new thermoplastic fluoroacrylated copolymers, synthesized by radical copolymerization of fluoroalkene(s) with five-membered cyclic carbonate and a third monomer or transfer agent, both containing OH group susceptible to be used for grafting of photocrosslinkable groups. The reaction of hydroxy functionalized copolymers with different acrylating agents results in fluoroacrylated resins with molecular weight in the range of 2000-3000 g mol-1, yield >75% and good solubility in reactive diluents. In the presence of photoinitiator(s), they were crosslinked under UV-radiation in order to obtain optical waveguides. The copolymers synthesized were characterized by 1H, 19F and 13C NMR as well as FT-IR spectroscopies and have good thermal stability (Td > 200°C). The refractive indeces of hydroxy functionalized fluorooligomers and acrylated resins were found to range from 1.44 to 1.45 at 23°C and the Tgs (by DSC) varied from 40 to 110°C depending on the content of the cyclic monomer. The optical characteristics of these thermoplastic fluoroacrylated copolymers are under progress. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.