Electrophilic groups polymerizations

Water and compounds with active hydrogen must be excluded from the reaction medium. Oxygen, on the other hand, does not interfere with the reaction. Tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, and aromatic solvents are commonly used in polymerizations catalyzed by nucleophiles. Chlorinated solvents and dimethylformamide are utilized in many reactions catalyzed by electrophiles. Living polymerizations of methacrylate esters can be carried out at 0 to 50 C. The acrylate esters, however, require temperatures below 0 °C for living, group-transfer polymerizations, because they are more reactive and can undergo side reactions. 

Important chemical reactions mediated by enz3rmes, which are proteins, are often controlled by the interaction of a nucleophile with an electrophile. Proteins are polymeric structures made of amino acids units (called amino acid residues). Important nucleophilic groups include the hydroxyl (OH) group of the amino acid serine (72), the thiol unit (SH) of cysteine (73 see Chapter 27) and the nitrogen of the imidazole group of histidine (74). Note that the term nucleophilic in this biochemical context does not necessarily indicate reaction at carbon, but rather indicates a two-electron donor. The electron-deficient center (called an electrophilic site or electrophilic group) may be a metal such as Mg, Mn+2, Fe", or an ammonium unit (-NH3+). In some cases, the electron-deficient center is a carbonyl group (C=0) in which the electron donor is indeed a nucleophile because the reaction occurs at the carbonyl carbon. 

Recently, the above mentioned model reaction has been extended to polycondensation reactions for synthesis of polyethers and polysulfides [7,81]. In recent reports crown ether catalysts have mostly been used in the reaction of a bifunctional nucleophile with a bifunctional electrophile, as well as in the monomer species carrying both types of functional groups [7]. Table 5 describes the syntheses of aromatic polyethers by the nucleophilic displacement polymerization using PTC. 

Another example where PEG played the role of polymeric support, solvent, and PTC was presented by the group of Lamaty [72]. In this study, a Schiff base-proteded glycine was reacted with various electrophiles (RX) under microwave irradiation. No additional solvent was necessary to perform these reactions and the best results were obtained using cesium carbonate as an inorganic base (Scheme 7.64). After alkylation, the corresponding aminoesters were released from the polymer support by transesterification employing methanol in the presence of triethylamine. 

Surprisingly, the polymerization rate has practically a zeroth-order dependence on the concentration of the monomer, which is a rare example for a group 4 metal-based catalyst. Although the reason for the zeroth-order dependence is unclear at the current time, one possible explanation is that, under the conditions examined, the cationic complex virtually exists as a (higher a-olefm)-coordinated form, presumably due to the highly electrophilic and sterically open nature of the cationic active species. 

The effect of the nitrone stmcture on the kinetics of the styrene polymerization has been reported. Of all the nitrones tested, those of the C-PBN type (Fig. 2.29, family 4) are the most efficient regarding polymerization rate, control of molecular weight, and polydispersity. Electrophilic substitution of the phenyl group of PBN by either an electrodonor or an electroacceptor group has only a minor effect on the polymerization kinetics. The polymerization rate is not governed by the thermal polymerization of styrene but by the alkoxyamine formed in situ during the pre-reaction step. The initiation efficiency is, however, very low, consistent with a limited conversion of the nitrone into nitroxide or alkoxyamine. 

Indolizine is much more basic than indole (p Ta = 3.9 vs. —3.5), and the stability of the cation makes it less reactive and resistant to acid-catalyzed polymerization. Protonation occurs at C-3, although 3-methylindolizine protonates also at C-l. Introduction of methyl groups raises the basicity of indolizines. Electrophilic substitutions such as acylation, Vilsmeyer formylation, and diazo-coupling all take place at C-3. Nitration of 2-methylindolizine under mild conditions results in substitution at C-3, but under strongly acidic conditions it takes place at C-l, presumably via attack on the indolizinium cation. However, the nitration of indolizines often can provoke oxidation processes. 

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