Copper-mediated synthesis of temperature-responsive poly(N-acryloyl glycinamide) polymers: a step towards greener and simple polymerisation

Stimuli-responsive materials with reversible supramolecular networks controlled by a change in temperature are of interest in medicine, biomedicine and analytical chemistry. For these materials to become more impactful, the development of greener synthetic practices with more sustainable solvents, lower energy consumption and a reduction in metallic catalysts is needed. In this work, we investigate the polymerisation of N-acryloyl glycinamide monomer by single-electron transfer reversible-deactivation radical polymerisation and its effect on the cloud point of the resulting PNAGA polymers. We accomplished 80% conversion within 5 min in water media using a copper wire catalyst. The material exhibited a sharp upper critical solution temperature (UCST) phase transition (10–80% transition within 6 K). These results indicate that UCST-exhibiting PNAGA can be synthesized at ambient temperatures and under non-inert conditions, eliminating the cost- and energy-consuming deoxygenation step. The choice of copper wire as the catalyst allows the possibility of catalyst recycling. Furthermore, we show that the reaction is feasible in a simple vial which would facilitate upscaling.