A vinyl polymer having pendent sulfones prepared by atom-transfer radical polymerization of a sulfide-containing methacrylate and electrophoretic transparent coating on a stainless-steel anode

A sulfide-containing methacrylate was prepared by esterification of methacryloyl chloride with 2-(ethylthio)ethanol. Then Cu(I)-catalyzed atom-transfer radical polymerization of this methacrylate derivative in toluene or acetonitrile was performed with some ligands for Cu(I). We found that, with toluene as the solvent and 1,1,4,7,10,10-hexamethyltriethylenetetramine as the ligand, the molecular weight of the synthesized polymer was the most controlled (Mn = 6.7 × 103, Mw/Mn = 1.3). Next, the polymer was oxidized to synthesize a vinyl polymer containing pendent sulfones (oxidation > 99%), which was then selectively coated onto a stainless-steel anode by electrophoretic deposition, in which the deposited film was transparent. This final result is consistent with our recent findings that a poly(ester-sulfone), prepared via thiol–ene click polymerization, shows anode-selective deposition behavior.