Abstract
Summary: Rod‐like cellulose polymers, with flexible isopentyl side chains, form supramolecular constructs by the Langmuir‐Blodgett (LB) technique. These have been employed to model an ultrathin multilayered primer for surface modification by polymerization. Multilayers of this polymer were doped with a solution of a photosensitizer and then exposed to methyl methacrylate, (MMA) in either the vapor or liquid phase. Polymerization of the monomer swollen construct was induced photochemically. FT‐IR spectra reveal that photoinitiation in presence of the photosensitizer or irradiation in the far UV region induces photografting by hydrogen abstraction from the constituents of the layered assembly. Employing a combination of photoinitiators (benzophenone and 4,4′‐bis(diethylamino)‐benzophenone) and irradiation of the construct that was saturated by monomer from the gas phase in the near UV region caused the formation of a semi‐interpenetrating polymer network. Linear polymer chains of PMMA grow and entangle inside the layered assembly of the cellulose derivative. The resulting composite consists of two polymers, isopentylcellulose and poly(methyl methacrylate) demonstrating a possibility to produce a homogeneous layered composite film at nanoscopic scale as revealed by the X‐ray reflectometry. Surface photopolymerization was also achieved in the liquid phase where the monomer and photoinitiator solution was in direct contact with the layered assembly.
Schematic picture of the composite films consisting of multilayered CIPC and PMMA incorporated via vapor phase photopolymerization. The scale of the CIPC hairy‐rods and periodic spacing is only schematically represented.
magnified imageSchematic picture of the composite films consisting of multilayered CIPC and PMMA incorporated via vapor phase photopolymerization. The scale of the CIPC hairy‐rods and periodic spacing is only schematically represented.