Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Styrenes

Atom transfer radical polymerization, ATRP, is a controlled radical process which affords polymers of narrow molecular weight distributions. Strictly this is not a coordinative polymerization, but its dependency upon suitable coordination complexes warrants a brief discussion here. 

Despite numerous studies involving copper catalysts, only a few isolated copper complexes have been examined, including complexes (155)-(157). Bipyridine,397 phenanthroline,398 and pyridyli-mine cationic complexes399 all exhibit tetrahedral geometries, in which the copper center is bound to two ligands. 

By contrast, much of the work performed using ruthenium-based catalysts has employed well-defined complexes. These have mostly been studied in the ATRP of MMA, and include complexes (158)-(165).400-405 Recent studies with (158) have shown the importance of amine additives which afford faster, more controlled polymerization.406 A fast polymerization has also been reported with a dimethylaminoindenyl analog of (161).407 The Grubbs-type metathesis initiator (165) polymerizes MMA without the need for an organic initiator, and may therefore be used to prepare block copolymers of MMA and 1,5-cyclooctadiene.405 Hydrogenation of this product yields PE-b-PMMA. N-heterocyclic carbene analogs of (164) have also been used to catalyze the free radical polymerization of both MMA and styrene.408 

Several nickel(II) complexes (e.g., (173)-(176)) have successfully been used to catalyze ATRP, especially when coupled with bromo-initiators, although activities are usually lower than with copper, ruthenium or iron systems.416-419 The alkylphosphine complex (175) is thermally more stable than (174) and has been used to polymerize a variety of acrylate monomers between 60 °C and 120 °C.418 Complex (176) is an unusual example of a well-defined zerovalent ATRP catalyst it displays similar activities to the Ni11 complexes, although molecular weight distributions (1.2-1.4) are higher.419 Pd(PPh3)4 has also been investigated and was reported to be less controlled than (176).420 

Several rhodium(I) complexes have also been employed as ATRP catalysts, including Wilkinson s catalyst, (177),391 421 422 ancj complex (178).423 However, polymerizations with both compounds are not as well-controlled as the examples discussed above. In conjunction with an alkyl iodide initiator, the rhenium(V) complex (179) has been used to polymerize styrene in a living manner (Mw/Mn 1.2).389 At 100 °C this catalyst is significantly faster than (160), and remains active even at 30 °C. A rhenium(I) catalyst has also been reported (180) which polymerizes MM A and styrene at 50 °C in 1,2-dichloroethane.424 

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NastruUah Ml, Ekin A, Bahr JA, Gallagher-Lein C, Webster DC (2006) Practical and automated high throughput approach atom-transfer radical polymerization of styrene and 1-butyl acrylate. PMSE Prepr 95 10-12... 

Destarac M, Bessiere J-M, Boutevin B (1998) Atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene initiated by polychloroalkanes and catalyzed by CuCI/2, 2-bipyridine A kinetic and mechanistic study. J Polymer Sci A Polym Chem 36 2933-2947... 

Bech L, Elzein T, Meylheuc T, Ponche A, Brogly M, Lepoittevin B, et al. Atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene from different polyfethylene terephthalate) surfaces films, fibers and fabrics. Eur Polym J 2009 45(l) 246-55. 

Matyjaszewski, K., et al. (1997). Observation and analysis of a slow termination process in the atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene. Tetrahedron, 55(45) 15321-15329. 

Fonagy, T., Ivan, B., and Szesztay, M. (1998). Polyisobutylene-graft-polystyrene by quasiliving atom-transfer radical polymerization of styrene from poly(isobutylene-co-p-methyl-styrene-co-p-bromomethylstyrene). Macromol. Rapid Common., 19(9) 479-483. 

Atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene at 110°C [Butte et al., 1999]. 

Lutz J-F, Matyjaszewski K. Nuclear magnetic resonance monitoring of chain-end functionahty in the atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene. J Polym Sci A Polym Chem 2005 43 897-910. 

Matyjaszewski K, Patten TE, Xia IH (1997) Controlled/hving radical polymerization. Kinetics of the homogeneous atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene. 1 Am Chem Soc 119 674-680... 

Angot, S., Murthy, K.S., Taton, D, and Gnanou, Y. (1998) Atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene using a novel octafunctional initiator Synthesis of well-defined polystyrene stars. Macromolecules, 31,7218. 

Jakubowski W, Min K, Matyjaszewski K (2006) Activators regenerated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene. Macromolecules 39(l) 39-45... 

In addition to acyl chloride functionalized NTs, the covalent grafting to of polymers onto NTs has been carried out for other reactions. A polystyrene azide (PSt-Ns) with a designed molecular weight and a narrow molecular weight distribution was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene followed by end group transformation and then added to SWNTs via a cycloaddition reaction (Scheme 12.4) [45]. 

Polystyrene-Woc -polysulfone-/ /oc -polystyrene and poly(butyl acrylate)-Woc -polysulfone-/ /oc -poly(butyl acrylate) triblock copolymers were prepared using a macroinitiator.214 The hydroxyl-terminated polysulfone was allowed to react with 2-bromopropionyl bromide, an atomic transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator, in the presence of pyridine. The modified macroinitiator could initiate die styrene polymerization under controlled conditions. 

Star polymers are a class of polymers with interesting rheological and physical properties. The tetra-functionalized adamantane cores (adamantyls) have been employed as initiators in the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method applied to styrene and various acrylate monomers (see Fig. 21). 

Block copolymers were synthesized by a combination of fipase-catalyzed polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRE). " " At first, the polymerization of 10-hydroxydecanoic acid was carried out by using lipase CA as catalyst. The terminal hydroxy group was modified by the reaction with a-bromopropionyl bromide, followed by ATRP of styrene using CuCE2,2 -bipyridine as catalyst system to give the polyester-polystyrene block copolymer. Trichloromethyl-terminated poly(e-CL), which was synthesized by lipase CA-catalyzed polymerization with 2,2,2-trichloroethanol initiator, was used as initiator for ATRP of styrene. 

The last decades have witnessed the emergence of new living Vcontrolled polymerizations based on radical chemistry [81, 82]. Two main approaches have been investigated the first involves mediation of the free radical process by stable nitroxyl radicals, such as TEMPO while the second relies upon a Kharash-type reaction mediated by metal complexes such as copper(I) bromide ligated with 2,2 -bipyridine. In the latter case, the polymerization is initiated by alkyl halides or arenesulfonyl halides. Nitroxide-based initiators are efficient for styrene and styrene derivatives, while the metal-mediated polymerization system, the so called ATRP (Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization) seems the most robust since it can be successfully applied to the living Vcontrolled polymerization of styrenes, acrylates, methacrylates, acrylonitrile, and isobutene. Significantly, both TEMPO and metal-mediated polymerization systems allow molec-... 

In this review, synthesis of block copolymer brushes will be Hmited to the grafting-from method. Hussemann and coworkers [35] were one of the first groups to report copolymer brushes. They prepared the brushes on siUcate substrates using surface-initiated TEMPO-mediated radical polymerization. However, the copolymer brushes were not diblock copolymer brushes in a strict definition. The first block was PS, while the second block was a 1 1 random copolymer of styrene/MMA. Another early report was that of Maty-jaszewski and coworkers [36] who reported the synthesis of poly(styrene-h-ferf-butyl acrylate) brushes by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). 

Ruthenium(II)-NHC systems ean be used for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Generally, similar results as for the analogous phosphine complexes are obtained. For the ATRP of styrene and methyl methacrylate (MMA) [(NHC)2peBr2] was found to rival copper(I)-based systems and to yield poly (MMA) with low polydispersities. Polymerizations based on olefin metathesis that are catalyzed by ruthenium-NHC complexes are discussed separately vide supra). 

Becer CR, Paulus RM, Hoppener S et al. (2008) Synthesis of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)-h-poly(styrene) copolymers via a dual initiator route combining cationic ring opening polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization. Macromolecules 41 5210-5215... 

Indenylidene compounds VIII, K, XXI, XXIII, XXVIIIa and XXVIIIb act as atom transfer radical polymerization catalysts for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate and styrene in high yields and with good control (Table 8.7). The catalytic activity can be dramatically improved by transforming the complexes into cationic species by treatment with AgBp4 [61]. 

The synthesis of mixed peroxides formed from /-butyl hydroperoxide and carbon-centred radicals has been studied. The reactions were strongly effected by solvents as well as catalytic amounts of Cun/Fem. The kinetic data suggest that the conditions for the Ingold-Fischer persistent radical effect are fulfilled in these cases.191 The use of Cu /Cu" redox couples in mediating living radical polymerization continues to be of interest. The kinetics of atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene with CuBr and bipyridine have been investigated. The polymer reactions were found to be first order with respect to monomer, initiator and CuBr concentration, with the optimum CuBr Bipy ratio found to be 2 1.192 In related work using CuBr-A-pentyl-2-... 

Frechet and coworkers recently described how living free radical polymerization can be used to make dendrigrafts. Either 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine oxide (TEMPO) modified polymerization or atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) can be used [96] (see Scheme 10). The method requires two alternating steps. In each polymerization step a copolymer is formed that contains some benzyl chloride functionality introduced by copolymerization with a small amount of p-(4-chloromethylbenzyloxymethyl) styrene. This unit is transformed into a TEMPO derivative. The TEMPO derivative initiates the polymerization of the next generation monomer or comonomer mixture. Alternatively, the chloromethyl groups on the polymer initiate an ATRP polymerization in the presence of CulCl or CuICl-4,4T dipyridyl complex. This was shown to be the case for styrene and n-butylmethacrylate. SEC shows clearly the increase in molecu-... 

Louie and Grubbs prepared an iron-based catalyst for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) [49]. By heating a solution of Iz Prim and FeX2 (X = Br, Cl), crystals of Fe(Iz Prim)2X2 were obtained. These complexes mediated the homogeneous ATRP of styrene and methyl methacrylate with... 

The controlled emulsion polymerization of styrene using nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP), reversible addition-fragmentation transfer polymerization (RAFT), stable free radical polymerization (SFR), and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) methods is described. The chain transfer agent associated with each process was phenyl-t-butylnitrone, nitric oxide, dibenzyl trithiocarbonate, 1,1-diphenylethylene, and ethyl 2-bromo-isobutyrate, respectively. Polydispersities between 1.17 and 1.80 were observed. 

Controlled Polymerization of Styrene Using n-Butyl Acrylate and 1-Hexene [Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization ATRP]... 

Figure 33 Surface initiated block copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate through atom transfer radical polymerization ...

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