Radical-Mediated Modification of Polyolefins: Investigation of the Synthesis of Graft

A range of strategies exist for the production of polyolefin block copolymers with well-defined morphologies for the compatibilization of immiscible blends; however, high sensitivity to impurities and use of expensive transition-metal catalysts limit their economic viability. An alternative method is the solvent-free coupling of dislike poly-mers using peroxides and multifunctional coagents. This technique, however, does not distinguish between a blend of gelled homopolymers and the intended copoly-mer. The use of a solution-based approach, like the one described in this report, for the radical-mediated coupling of polyolefins with dislike polymers allows for the full characterization of the copolymer without the formation of gel. A one- and two-step synthesis for the coupling of two homopolymers in solution is demonstrated using triallyl trimesate. The one-step approach produced a copolymer in low yields due to the differences in reactivity between the homopolymers. The two-step synthesis consisted of the solvent-free grafting of the coagent to the less reactive polymer, followed by coupling in solution with the other polymer. Thoug