Free radical polymerization degenerative

The absence of control of the incorporation of monomers into the polymeric chain implies that many macroscopic properties carmot be influenced to a large extent. Therefore, much effort has been directed toward the development of controlled radical polymerization (CRP) methods for the preparation of various copolymers (for a review, see Reference 31). CRPs offer the possibility of producing polymers with relatively well-defined properties, while at the same time maintaining the simplicity of radical processes.These methods are based on the idea of establishing equilibrium between the active and dormant species in solution phase. In particular, the methods include three major techniques called stable free-radical polymerization, degenerative chain transfer technique, and atom transfer radical polymerization, pioneered by Ando et and Matyjaszewski et Although such syntheses pose significant technical problems, these difficulties have all been successively overcome in the past few years. Nevertheless, the procedure of preparation of the resultant copolymers with controlled monomer sequence distribution remains somewhat complicated. 

Fig. 2. The mechanisms of (1) stable free radical polymerizations, (2) reversible redox polymerizations (i.e., ATRP), and (3) degenerative chain transfer...

There are four principal mechanisms that have been put forward to achieve living free-radical polymerization (1) Polymerization with reversible termination by coupling, the best example in this class being the alkoxyamine-initiated or nitroxide-mediated polymerization, as first described by Solomon et al. (1985) (2) polymerization with reversible termination by hgand transfer to a metal complex (usually abbreviated as ATRP),(Wang and Matyjaszewski, 1995) (3) polymerization with reversible chain transfer (also termed degenerative chain transfer)-, and (4) reversible addition/ffagmentation chain transfer (RAFT). 

Figure 6.26 Reaction scheme of controlled free-radical polymerization, based on degenerative chain transfer, of butyl acrylate (R = C4H9COO-) in the presence of secondary alkyl iodide (R = CH3CH(Ph)-, X = I) as the degenerative transfer agent. The latter alone does not initiate polymerization. (After Matyjaszewski et al., 1995.)...

Matyjaszewski et al. systematically investigated the effect of electron donors (ED), such as pyridine and triethylamine, on the CRP of VAc with Co(acac)2. They proposed that the polymerization mechanism of VAc with Co(acac)2 in the absence of electron donor was a degenerative transfer process as shown in scheme 3(a). The polymerization in the presence of electron donor was a stable free radical polymerization controlled by the reversible homolytic cleavage of cobalt(III) dormant species as shown in scheme 3 (b). ... 

Controlled radical polymerization techniques are suitable for synthesizing polymers with a high level of architectural control. Notably, they not only allow a copolymerization with functional monomers (as shown previously for free-radical polymerization), but also a simple functionalization of the chain end by the initiator. Miniemulsion systems were found suitable for conducting controlled radical polymerizations [58-61], including atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), RAFT, degenerative iodine transfer [58], and nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP). Recently, the details of ATRP in miniemulsion were described in several reviews [62, 63], while the kinetics of RAFT polymerization in miniemulsion was discussed by Tobita [64]. Consequently, no detailed descriptions of the process wiU be provided at this point. 

For example, controlled free radical polymerization of styrene based on a degenerative transfer process with iodine exchange was carried out in oil-in-... 

The controlled free-radical miniemulsion polymerization of styrene was performed by Lansalot et al. and Butte et al. in aqueous dispersions using a degenerative transfer process with iodine exchange [91, 92]. An efficiency of 100% was reached. It has also been demonstrated that the synthesis of block copolymers consisting of polystyrene and poly(butyl acrylate) can be easily performed [93]. This allows the synthesis of well-defined polymers with predictable molar mass, narrow molar mass distribution, and complex architecture. 

The mechanism of Co(acac)2-mediated polymerization of Vac is still an open question. On the basis of an early work by Wayland and coworkers on the controlled radical polymerization of acrylates by complexes of cobalt and porphyrins, Debuigne and coworkers proposed a mechanism based on the reversible addition of the growing radicals P to the cobalt complex, [Co(II)], and the establishment of an equilibrium between dormant species and the free radicals (equation 8). Maria and coworkers, however, proposed that the polymerization mechanism depends on the coordination number of cobalt . Whenever the dormant species contains a six-coordinated Co in the presence of strongly binding electron donors, such as pyridine, the association process shown in equation 8 would be effective. In contrast, a degenerative transfer mechanism would be favored in case of five-coordinated Co complexes (equation 9). 

The fifty chapters submitted for publication in the ACS Symposium series could not fit into one volume and therefore we decided to split them into two volumes. In order to balance the size of each volume we did not divide the chapters into volumes related to mechanisms and materials but rather to those related to atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and to other controlled/living radical polymerization methods reversible-addition fragmentation transfer (RAFT) and other degenerative transfer techniques, as well as stable free radical pol5mierizations (SFRP) including nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP) and organometallic mediated radical polymerization (OMRP). 

CRP LRP in Figure 1), ATRP or atom transfer (radical) polymn ( ATRP only , this search does not include terms such as metal mediated or metal catalyzed (living) radical polymerization), NMP or SFRP or nitroxide mediated polymn ot stable free polymn ( SFRP NMP ) and RAFT ox reversible addition transfer or degenerative transfer or catalytic chain transfer ( RAFT DT CT ). The latter two terms were refined with a term radical polymn since they coincide with other common chemical names such as N-methylpyrrolidone or raft-associated proteins. In summary, since 1995 over... 

There are several techniques for performing CRP, but the most popular and successful ones so far are as follows stable free radical (SFR) or nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMRP) [44, 45, 49], atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) [50, 51], and degenerative transfer techniques, including particularly reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization [3]. These are examined in some detail in the following sections. 

Control by degenerative transfer (DT) involves perhaps the smallest change from a eonventional free radical process of all the controlled/living polymerization proeesses developed to date. A recent review of various methods of telomer synthesis [180] diseusses the different types of transfer agents and monomers and the contribution of the teehniques of telomerization to CRP (includes discussion of iodine transfer polymerization, RAFT, and macromolecular design through interchange of xanthates (MADIX)) [181,182]. 

DT relies on a thermodynamically neutral (degenerative) transfer reaction. The key for control is a minimal energy barrier for that reaction. Conventional free radical initiators are used, i.e., peroxides and diazenes, at temperatures typical for radical polymerization and the polymerization is carried out in the presence of a compound with a labile group or atom which can be either reversibly abstracted or added-fragmented by the growing radical. The simplest examples are reactions in the presence of alkyl iodides [33,183-184] Scheme 11 ... 

H) TeRP in aqueous dispersed systems The TeRP proceeds by the two aaivation-deactivation processes, namely, thermal dissodation of the C-TeCHs terminal bond and degenerative transfer of the terminal -TeCHs group. However, when an external source of free radicals is used at low temperature, it only proceeds by degenerative transfer. Okubo a used a water-soluble poly(methacrylic add) with a -Te-CH3 terminal group to synthesize poly(/i-butyl acrylate) latex partides by chain extension of the hydrophilic segment in emulsion polymerization. The system resulted in very small partides with controlled polymer chains exhibiting an amphiphilic stmcture. 

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