2.2. Synthesis of Poly(Monomethyl Itaconate) and Poly(Monomethyl Itaconate) Li+

In total, 14.2 g of monomethyl itaconate was added to a round bottom reactor flask. Then, the reactor was sealed with a septum and immersed in a heating bath at 74 °C. Once the monomer was melted, 0.1221 g of benzoyl peroxide was added and the reactor was purged using nitrogen gas. The bath temperature was then increased to 80 °C and the reaction was left for 12 h. Once the reaction was concluded (time expired), the resulting solid was dissolved in methanol and reprecipitated in dimethyl ether.

In order to prepare poly(monomethyl itaconate) Li⁺ (PMMI-Li⁺), 1 g of poly(monomethyl itaconate) (PMMI) was added to 20 mL of distilled water and was left under stirring for 1 h to achieve complete dissolution of the polymer. The resulting pH of the polymer solution was of 3. After, 187 mg of lithium hydroxide was added and the solution was stirred for 1 h. The pH of the resulting solution was 12. Then, this solution was poured into a Petri dish and left to dry in a ventilated oven at 40 °C for 12 h. Finally, the solid was dried at 40 °C under vacuum until reaching constant weight.