Polymers with side chain N-alkoxy pyridinium ions as precursors for photoinduced grafting and modification processes

A combination of NMP and photoinitiated polymerization is suggested as a new strategy for the synthesis of graft copolymers. First, P(S-co-CMS) copolymer backbones with different chloromethyl content are prepared by NMP. The chloro functions are then converted into photosensitive 4-phenyl pyridinium-N-oxide ion functions. Finally, these photoactive polymers are irradiated in the presence of MMA to obtain the graft copolymers. They and their precursors at various stages are characterized by spectroscopy and GPC. It is demonstrated that the irradiation of photoactive polymers in the presence of a hydrogen donors such as THF facilitates the conversion of pyridinium ions to hydroxyl groups.