Bioinspired Copolymers: Experimental and Theoretical Research on the Synthesis and Curing of Poly(Vinyl Benzyl Thymine-co-4-vinylbenzene sulfonic acid sodium salt)

J. VICH BERLANGA; D. A. ESTENOZ; D. M. MARTINO

Los Cocos

Simposio; V Argentine-Chilean Polymer Symposium; 2009

Styrene-based biopolymers containing thyminegroups chemically attached to the polystyrene structurewere experimental- and theoretically investigated. Theionic groups used in one of the comonomers make thepolymer water-soluble. When biopolymers areilluminated with UV light (~280nm), a photocyclizationreaction between adjacent thymines takes place,rendering it water-insoluble. The crosslinking chemistryof these “bioinspired” polymers is derived from a simplephotochemical transformation that occurs in nature:photodimerization reaction 2π-2π of thymine in DNAwhen exposed to UV light (Trakhtenberg et al, 2006;Grasshoff et al, 1995 and 1998). The final properties ofthe material depend greatly upon the crosslinkingdegree, which is affected by the curing conditions andthe copolymer molecular characteristics of thecopolymer.