ABSTRACT

Various densely grafted polymers containing poly(aniline-2-sulfonic acid-co-aniline)s as side chains and polystyrene as the backbone were prepared. A styryl-substituted aniline macromonomer, 4-(4-vinylbenzoxyl)(N-tert-butoxycarbonyl)phenylamine (4-VBPA- t BOC), was first prepared by the reaction of 4-aminophenol with the amino-protecting moiety di-tert-butoxyldicarbonate, and this was followed by substitution with 4-vinylbenzyl chloride. 4-VBPA- t BOC thus obtained was homopolymerized with azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator, and this was followed by deprotection with trifluoroacetic acid to generate poly[4-(4-vinylbenzoxyl)phenylamine] (PVBPA) with pendent amine moieties. Second, the copolymerization of aniline-2-sulfonic acid and aniline was carried out in the presence of PVBPA to generate densely grafted poly(aniline-2-sulfonic acid-co-aniline). Through the variation of the molar feed ratio of aniline-2-sulfonic acid to aniline, various densely grafted copolymers were generated with different aniline-2-sulfonic acid/aniline composition ratios along the side chains. The copolymers prepared with molar feed ratios greater than 1/2 were water-soluble and had conductivities comparable to those of the linear copolymers. Furthermore, these copolymers 330could self-dope in water through intermolecular or intramolecular interactions between the sulfonic acid moieties and imine nitrogens, and this generated large aggregates.