Backbite

Intramolecular rearrangement of the initially formed radical may occur occasionally (e.g. backbiting - Section 4.4.3) or even be the dominant pathway (e.g. cyelopolymerization - Section 4.4.1, ring-opening polymerization - Section 4.4.2). These pathways can give rise to branches, rings, or internal unsaturation in the polymer chain. 

It has been known for some time that intramolecular atom transfer, or backbiting, complicates polymerizations of E (Scheme 4.40 - Section 4.4.3.1), VAc and VC (see 4.4.3.2). Recent work has shown that backbiting is also prevalent in polymerization of acrylate esters (Section 4.4.3.3) and probably occurs to some extent during polymerizations of most monosubstituted... 

Viswanadhan and Matticc278 carried out calculations aimed at rationalizing the relative frequency of backbiting in these and other polymerizations in terms of the ease of adopting the required conformation for intramolecular abstraction (see 2.4.4), More recent theoretical studies generally support these conclusions and provide more quantitative estimates of the Arrhenius parameters for the... 

Backbiting also occurs in ethylene copolymerizations with AN,298 (mcth)acrylatc esters290 and VAc. The structures identified in E-BA... 

Table 4.9 Structures Formed by Backbiting in Ethylene Copolymerizations ...

There is evidence for backbiting during the polymerizations of VC 67-302 and VAc.55 30l3tb j07 The mechanism is believed to be analogous to that discussed for PE above and should lead to the formation of 2,4-dichlorobutyl or 2,4 diacetoxybutyl branches (Scheme 4.42) respectively. 

The process is favored by low monomer concentrations as occurs at high conversions and in starved feed polymerizations.307 Theoretical calculations suggest that the incidence of backbiting should be strongly dependent on the tacticity of the penultimate dyad. 08 Double backbiting in VC or VAc polymerization will lead to 2-chloroethyl or 2-acetoxy ethyl branches respectively (as for E in Scheme 4.41 ).302... 

The high temperature polymerization of acrylates with the backbiting-fragmentation process has been used to synthesize macromonomers based on acrylate esters. 277,312 Interestingly, fragmentation shows a strong preference for giving the polymeric macromonomer 64 and a small radical 65. 276.277 An explanation for this specificity has yet to be proposed. 

Copolymerization of macromonomers formed by backbiting and fragmentation is a second mechanism for long chain branch formation during acrylate polymerization (Section 4.4.3.3). The extents of long and short chain branching in acrylate polymers in emulsion polymerization as a function of conditions have been quantified.20 ... 

RAFT end groups are known to be unstable at very high temperatures (>200 °C). Thermal elimination has been used as a means of trithiocarbonate end group removal. For ps430,4W direct elimination is observed (Scheme 9.54). For poly(butyl acrylate)464 the major product suggests a hoinolysis/backbiting/ i-scission reaction is involved (Scheme 9.55). 

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