Synthesis of surfactants by polymerization of glycerol (meth)acrylates with fatty acids derivatives as chain ends

The worldwide production of glycerin exceeds the demand from the chemical industry and new applications have been investigated these last years mainly in the area of additives. Here, water–soluble glycerin-based polyacrylates and polymethacrylates have been prepared by free-radical polymerization of solketal (meth)acrylate using various transfer agents derived from fatty chains. According to specific experimental conditions, linear functional oligomers were obtained. This versatile process allowed designing amphiphilic copolymers after the hydrolysis of acetal groups. These oligomers exhibit critical aggregation concentration values ranging from 5 to 15 × 10⁻⁶ mol.L⁻¹ without any strong differences between polyacrylate and polymethacrylate series. In the case of glycerol-based polyacrylate derivatives, the observed monomodal populations can be ascribed to the low polydispersity indexes.