A high-throughput approach for poly(2-oxazoline) research : application of an automated synthesizer

A high-throughput approach for polymer research utilizing an automated synthesizer is described. The successful implementation of this approach for the cationic ring opening polymn. of 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline was demonstrated. Both reproducibility and livingness of the polymn. were proven for a model polymn. of 2-ethyl-oxazoline with benzyl bromide as initiator and piperidine as endcapper by synthesizing poly(oxazolines) with mol. wts. ranging from 1,000 Dalton to 10,000 Dalton. In addn., the reaction temp. for the 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline polymn. in N,N-dimethylacetamide was optimized by performing parallel polymns. at different temps. The reactions were performed in an individually heatable reactor block, whereby all 13 reactors can be sep. heated with a ceramic heating jacket. Samples of the reactions were automatically taken at suitable time periods and characterized with both online GPC and off-line GC. [on SciFinder (R)]