ORIGINAL PAPER Synthesis of associative block copolymers electrolytes via RAFT polymerization Sergio Dı ´az-Silvestre 1 • Enrique Saldı ´var-Guerra 1 • Claudia Rivera-Vallejo 1 • Claude St Thomas 2 • Judith Cabello-Romero 1 • Ramiro Guerrero-Santos 1 • Enrique Jime ´nez-Regalado 1 Received: 1 March 2017 / Revised: 8 May 2017 / Accepted: 15 May 2017 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Abstract In this work, the synthesis of associative electrolyte copolymers via the RAFT polymerization technique in solution media is reported. Well-defined poly- electrolytes as multiblock copolymers or multistickers were prepared. Previously, an hydrophilic macroRAFT agent of a statistic copolymer P(MAA-co-EA) was prepared using methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethyl acrylate (EA). Afterwards, chain extensions of the macroagent were carried out by further polymerization of stearyl methacrylate (SMA). At the end, multiblock copolymers (heptablock) were obtained by insertion of three blocks of SMA. All the polymerizations showed a living behavior with the resulting polymers exhibiting a narrow dispersity (Ð B 1.5). The synthesized poly- mers were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and rheological measurements. Furthermore, it was demon- strated that the insertion of hydrophobic segments into the multiblock copolymers increases considerably the viscosity of the associative electrolyte polymers. Introduction It is well-known that associative water-soluble copolymers are principally constituted by a large hydrophilic segment and a small hydrophobic portion, which is generally inserted either inside the polymer chain or as a terminal group. The size Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00289-017-2071-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Enrique Jime ´nez-Regalado enrique.jimenez@ciqa.edu.mx 1 Centro de Investigacio ´n en Quı ´mica Aplicada (CIQA), Blvd Enrique Reyna Hermosillo # 140, Saltillo, Coahuila 25294, Mexico 2 CONACYT-Centro de Investigacio ´n en Quı ´mica Aplicada (CIQA), Blvd Enrique Reyna Hermosillo # 140, Saltillo, Coahuila 25294, Mexico 123 Polym. Bull. DOI 10.1007/s00289-017-2071-6