Gel formation in atom transfer radical polymerization of 2‐(N,N‐dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate

Abstract Copolymers of 2‐( N , N ‐dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization using ethyl 2‐bromoisobutyrate as the initiator, Cu(I)Br as the catalyst, and 1,1,4,7,10,10‐hexamethyltriethylene tetramine as the ligand. At low crosslinker levels, the polymerizations followed the first‐order kinetics. However, when the crosslinker level was above 10 …