Synthesis of linear and branched hydrophobically associating multiblock copolymers via a one-pot process

The synthesis of linear and branched hydrophobically water soluble (co) polymers composed of acrylamide (AM), lauryl acrylate (LA) and N,N'-methylenebis (acrylamide) was carefully carried out via a one-pot process using the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in aqueous media. The polymerization reactions were triggered out by sequential addition of monomers in the absence of surfactant through thermal initiation using 4,4'-azobis(4-cyanopentanoic acid)-ACPA as initiator. For understanding the influence of both hydrophobic and crosslinking agent on the structure and rheological properties thus the synthesized polymers were thoroughly characterized. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analyses demonstrated the insertion of hydrophobic block inside the polymeric chains. Further, the rheological studies confirmed the influence of both crosslinking agent and hydrophobic block inserted within the backbone polymers on the thickening properties of copolymers obtained in each step.