Anionic grafting of polystyrene and poly(styrene-block-isoprene) onto microparticulate silica and glass slides

Polystyrene and poly(styrene-block-isoprene) were grafted onto microparticulate silica by initiating immobilized double bonds at the silica surface with t-butyllithium, and subsequently adding monomer to the reaction suspension. Grafted block copolymers could be synthesized by adding a second monomer after the first monomer had reacted completely. The obtained molecular-weight distributions were somewhat broader than those for comparable anionic homopolymerizations.