Novel synthesis and characterization of side-chain ferrocene-containing polymers

A convenient and economic one-step synthesis of 2-ferrocenylethyl alcohol was developed, which led to the high yield monomer synthesis of 2-ferrocenylethyl acrylate, 2-ferrocenylethyl methacrylate, 2-ferrocenylethylacrylamide, and 2-ferrocenylethylmethacrylamide. Using AIBN as initiator, the homo-polymerization or copolymerization of these monomers with N-isopropylacrylamide in toluene or THF under various conditions resulted in high molar mass homopolymers or thermally sensitive copolymers. They were characterized by H-1 NMR and IR spectroscopies as well as by a combination of static and dynamic laser light scattering. Our results showed that for poly(2-ferrocenylethyl acrylate) and poly(2-ferrocenylethyl methacrylate) homopolymers the z-average translational diffusion coefficient (D can be scaled to the weight-average molar mass (M-w) as (D) = 1.3 x 10(5)M(w)(-0.57) and (D) = 1.9 x 10(-5)M(w)(-0.52), respectively, indicating that these polymer chains are flexible and have a coil conformation in toluene. The collapse and swelling of poly [(N-2-ferrocenylethylacrylamide)-co-(N-isopropylacrylamide)] copolymers in water led to a convenient way to alternate the average interdistance between ferrocene groups.