60Co γ-irradiation induced polymerization of methyl methacrylate in imidazolium ionic liquids

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), as a class of novel environmental benign 'green solvents', have been used as reaction media for various polymerizations due to their unique properties of non-volatility, high polarity, ease of recycling and chirality. In radiation polymerization, the energetic photons or electrons result in the formation of solvated electron and radical ions in ionic liquids, which initiate polymerization of monomers without any chemical initiator. In this work, effects of gamma ray irradiation on pure ionic liquid [bmim][PF6] was investigated in detail in a dose range of 5-400 kGy. The ionic liquids were quite stable under low dose irradiations, but underwent notable radiolysis with high doses. With the irradiated [bmim][PF6], the UV-Vis absorbance increased and the fluorescence intensity decreased with increasing doses. Raman spectra proved that gamma radiation induced significant chemical scission of n-butyl group (e.g. C-H and C-C scission), along with damages to the [PF6]- anion. In cooled samples of the irradiated [bmim][PF6] we found two coexist crystal structures, which had suffered a continuous destruction under high dose irradiation. After ensuring stability of the ionic liquids to low dose irradiation, radiation polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in ionic liquids and IL/organic solutions was performed. By adding the ionic liquids, the monomer conversion and molecular weight (Mw) of the polymer increased significant. Mw of PMMA in neat ionic liquid increased by about 60 times, from 3 x 104 with pure organic solvent to about 2 x 106. Molecular weight of the polymer increased with the IL fraction in the IL/organic solutions, and it was dependent on ionic liquids and solvents used, too. It was also found that the polymer obtained in the existence of IL showed multi-modal broadened molecular weight distribution (MWD). A reasonable explanation is the inhomogeneous nature of the ionic liquid in micron scale and the complicated immiscibility of polymer with medium. Dose dependence of Mw and MWD of PMMA was studied in the dose range of 5-18 kGy with [bmim][PF6]/THF volume ratio being fixed at 3:2. The MWD showed little dose effect, whereas the Mw increased from 5 to 12 kGy but decreased slightly with higher doses, suggesting that the polymer might undergo partial degradation at higher doses. (authors)