Synthesis of low surface energy thin films of nonhalogenated polyepichlorohydrin-triazoles with side alkyl chain

Abstract The dispersive and polar components of surface energy of a polymer thin film are hypothesized to be reduced by introduction of intramolecular interactions to pull side chains to the backbone and by establishment of hydrophobic interactions between extended alkyl chains to compact the molecular volume. A series of new polymer, polyepichlorohydrin (PECH)-triazole polymer with side chain with different number of methylene groups, were synthesized to prove this proposal. The newly synthesized polymer has high film-formation capacity and no halogens. The interactions between ether oxygen and imine nitrogen atoms depress the dipole effects and the hydrophobic interactions between extended methylene groups of the side chain on triazole compact the molecular volume, so the yielded surface energy has been effectively reduced to a level lower than PTFE. The synthesized polymer is a nonhalogenated low surface-energy material with potential applications.