abstract
- Herein, we report the first oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) dual gas-switchable thermoresponsive polymers based on a newly synthesized monomer N-(2-fluoroethyl amide)-N-(2-(diethylamino)ethyl) acrylamide, that is, AM(F1EA-DEAE), which bears both O2-switchable fluorinated ethyl amide (F1EA) and CO2-switchable N,N-diethylamino ethyl (DEAE) moieties on its side chain. PolyAM(F1EA-DEAE) samples prepared from reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization exhibited good temperature-responsive properties. Their inherent low critical solution temperature (LCST) could be reversibly tuned to different levels by respectively purging O2 or CO2 into its aqueous solution. The O2-treatment shifted LCST to a higher temperature, while the CO2-treatment made the polymer fully water-soluble. The polymer could be readily recovered to its initial state by washing off the trigger gas with an inert gas such as nitrogen. This work provides an effective monomer design approach for the preparation of O2 and CO2 dual gas-responsive polymers.