Synthesis and characterization of thermo-responsive diblock copolymer containing crown ether units via RAFT polymerization

Abstract

Crown ethers have a selective binding capacity with various metal ions and molecules through noncovalent bonding depending on the size of the ring. Due to this property, several functional polymers containing crown ethers have been developed for sensing, catalyst, and environmental applications. Also, the crown ethers have been incorporated into stationary column, membrane and hydrogels for various applications. In this study, we synthesized linear diblock copolymers consisting of crown ether and thermo-responsive moieties by reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT). The diblock copolymers were used to bind and separate metal ions from aqueous solution through lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior.