Group transfer polymerization methacrylates/acrylates

The range of uses of mercuric iodide has increased because of its abiUty to detect nuclear particles. Various metals such as Pd, Cu, Al, Tri, Sn, Ag, and Ta affect the photoluminescence of Hgl2, which is of importance in the preparation of high quaUty photodetectors (qv). Hgl2 has also been mentioned as a catalyst in group transfer polymerization of methacrylates or acrylates (8). 

Polymerization of methacrylates is also possible via what is known as group-transfer polymerization. Although only limited commercial use has been made of this technique, it does provide a route to block copolymers that is not available from ordinary free-radical polymerizations. In a prototypical group-transfer polymerization the fluoride-ion-catalyzed reaction of a methacrylate (or acrylate) in the presence of a silyl ketene acetal gives a high molecular weight polymer (45—50). 

Group-Transfer Polymerization. Du Pont has patented (29) a technique known as group-transfer polymerization and appHed it primarily to the polymerization of acrylates and methacrylates. It is mechanistically similar to anionic polymerization, giving living chains, except that chain transfer can occur (30). 

Group-Transfer Polymerization. Living polymerization of acrylic monomers has been carried out using ketene silyl acetals as initiators. This chemistry can be used to make random, block, or graft copolymers of polar monomers. The following scheme demonstrates the synthesis of a methyl methacrylate—lauryl methacrylate (MMA—LMA) AB block copolymer (38). LMA is CH2=C(CH2)COO(CH2) CH2. 

The controlled polymerization of (meth)acrylates was achieved by anionic polymerization. However, special bulky initiators and very low temperatures (- 78 °C) must be employed in order to avoid side reactions. An alternative procedure for achieving the same results by conducting the polymerization at room temperature was proposed by Webster and Sogah [84], The technique, called group transfer polymerization, involves a catalyzed silicon-mediated sequential Michael addition of a, /f-unsaluralcd esters using silyl ketene acetals as initiators. Nucleophilic (anionic) or Lewis acid catalysts are necessary for the polymerization. Nucleophilic catalysts activate the initiator and are usually employed for the polymerization of methacrylates, whereas Lewis acids activate the monomer and are more suitable for the polymerization of acrylates [85,86]. 

Group transfer polymerization allows the synthesis of block copolymers of different methacrylate or acrylate monomers, such as methyl methacrylate and allyl methacrylate [Hertler, 1996 Webster and Sogah, 1989]. The synthesis of mixed methacrylate-acrylate block copolymers requires that the less reactive monomer (methacrylate) be polymerized first. The silyl dialkylketene acetal propagating center from methacrylate polymerization is more reactive for initiation of acrylate polymerization than the silyl monoalkylketene acetal propagating center from acrylate polymerization is for initiation of methacrylate polymerization. Bifunctional initiators such as l,4-bis(methoxytri methyl si loxymethylene)cyclohexane (XXXIII) are useful for synthesizing ABA block copolymers where the middle block is methacrylate [Steinbrecht and Bandermann, 1989 Yu et al., 1988]. 

Examples of vinyl monomers for addition polymerization include acrylates, methacrylates, vinyl ethers and styrene derivatives. Radical, ionic, and group-transfer polymerizations are possible according to polymerizabil-ity of the monomers. Living polymerization is difficult because mesogenic monomers often contain bonds such as benzoate ester, which are easily attacked by growing ends. Cyclic and condensation monomers are less... 

New developments in group transfer polymerization have made possible the living polymerization of acrylate and methacrylate monomers using silyl ketene acetal initiators with a nucleophilic or Lewis acid catalyst (73). By this method we may circumvent the side reactions which accompany conventional anionic polymerizations of acrylates and methacrylates and prepare almost mono-... 

Zirconocenes and lanthanocenes active for olefin polymerization do, in fact, carry out well-controlled homopolymerizations of (meth)acrylic monomers, but polymerization takes place by an enolate mechanism in which the conjugated carbonyl group plays a crucial role in stabilizing the active center. Both monometallic and bimetallic mechanisms have been documented. Collins and co-workers developed a zirconocene group-transfer polymerization (GTP) technique for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) which utilizes a neutral zirconocene enolate as an initiator and the conjugate zirconocene cation as a catalyst (Scheme 3). ... 

Group-transfer polymerization (GTP) was discovered by scientists at DuPont and involves the conjugate Michael addition of an enol silane or related compound to acrylate or methacrylate monomers under the influence of an activator. The process is related to anionic polymerization but the species involved are believed to feature a high degree of covalent character in the transition state for chain growth. 

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. 

An important extension of anionic polymerization of acrylic monomers was the discovery of group-transfer polymerization (GTP), by Webster etal. [56], which allowed the synthesis of acrylic and methacrylic polymers in a Kving reaction at ambient temperature or above. A wide range of all-(meth) acrylic block copolymers as well hydrophilic-hydrophobic, as double-hydrophilic copolymers which are of special interest for micellization studies, could be prepared by Armes and co workers [57]. 

In the 1980s, the DuPont Company developed and patented [10] a new type of polymerization that mechanistically is similar to anionic polymerization. Group-transfer polymerization (GTP) has been defined as polymerization of a,/3-unsaturated esters, ketones, nitriles, or amides, initiated by silyl ketene acetals [11]. It has most commonly been used to polymerize acrylate and methacrylate monomers with the aid of anionic catalysts (they are true catalysts here), such as the bifluoride ion, [FHF] , or bioxyanions. GTP is illustrated below for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with silyl ketene acetal (SKA) ... 

Whilst polymers have been prepared from acrylates, acrylonitrile and other similar monomers, group transfer polymerization is most suited to the preparation of low molar mass (<50kgmol ) functionalized methacrylate homopolymers and copolymers. 

The term acrylic apphes to a family of copolymers of monomers that are polymerized by a chain growth mechanism. Most often, the mechanism of polymerization is by free radical initiation. Other mechanisms of polymerization, such as ionic and group transfer polymerization, are possible but will not be discussed in this publication. For a description of other polymerization mechanisms, polymer textbooks are available (5,6). Technically, acrylic monomers are derivatives of acrylic or methacrylic acid. These derivatives are nonfunctional esters (methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, etc.), amides (acrylamide), nitrile (acrylonitrile), and esters that contain functional groups (hydroxyethyl acrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl acrylate). Other monomers that are not acryhc derivatives are often included as components of acryhc resins because they are readily copolymerized with the acryhc derivatives. Styrene is often used in significant quantities in acryhc copolymers. 

Group transfer polymerization (GTP) is a technique for the polymerization of acrylic monomers discovered by the scientists at Dupont in 1983 [7-10]. The technique gives living polymers, remarkably free of termination or transfer reactions, at room temperatures or above. This is in distinct contrast to anionic polymerization of methacrylic monomers, which can be performed in a truly living manner only at low temperatures (much below 0°C). GTP... 

Although organometallic catalysts have attracted the most attention lately with regard to the anionic polymerization of alkyl methacrylates, it is important to recognize that alkali metal alkoxides in a variety of media can initiate the polymerization of both alkyl methacrylates and alkyl acrylates. Especially in view of the recent discovery and reporting of controlled, living acrylate and methacrylate polymerizations via group transfer... 

Free radical polymerization of styrene, of acrylate and of methacrylate monomers in solutions at 60° C in the presence of this preformed polymer produced graft copolymers in high efficiency, the chain transfer constants for these mercapto groups with styrene and methyl methacrylate being similar to those found with simple mercaptans (80, 85). 

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