High-throughput concurrent synthesis of core-crosslinked star-polydimethylsiloxane using an arm-first approach

Abstract

In this work we use RAFT crosslinking polymerisation coupled with a Chemspeed robotic synthesis platform to optimise conditions to produce PDMS-arm star polymers by an arm-first strategy. The high-throughput polymer product library demonstrated relatively low dispersity (Đ ≈ 1.5), high monomer conversion (>85%) and consistent size (20–40 nm). Varying the crosslinker resulted in differences in polymer product profiles as identified by size exclusion chromatography, with larger linkers between methacrylate handles causing reduced M_n and multimodal distribution compared to ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, regardless of starting arm composition or M_n. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed greater thermal stability for star polymers with increased PDMS content.