A Green Step to New Monomers and Their Polymerization

Abstract

Extract obtained from the bark of Betula Pendula was treated with sodium hydroxide solution to obtain 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)butan-2-one. New (meth)acrylates were synthesized on the basis of 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)butan-2-one. Free radical polymerization of the new (meth)acrylates was compared with that of commercial monomers (e. g. phenyl(meth)acrylate, 2-phenoxyethyl methacrylate, and benzyl methacrylate) in solution resulting in soluble polymers as expected in all examples. In contrast to this, free radical polymerization of 4-(4-acryloyloxyphenyl)butan-2-one in bulk resulted in a crosslinked material although an extremely high molecular weight soluble polymer was received in case of bulk polymerization of 4-(4-methacryloyloxyphenyl)butan-2-one. The 3-oxobutyl substituent at the phenyl ring of these monomers may influence their radical polymerization. Furthermore, enzyme mediated radical polymerization and photoinitiated polymerization were applied for the polymer synthesis using 4-(4-methacryloyloxyphenyl)butan-2-one.