Living radical polymerization reverse

Most radicals are transient species. They (e.%. 1-10) decay by self-reaction with rates at or close to the diffusion-controlled limit (Section 1.4). This situation also pertains in conventional radical polymerization. Certain radicals, however, have thermodynamic stability, kinetic stability (persistence) or both that is conferred by appropriate substitution. Some well-known examples of stable radicals are diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitroxides such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-A -oxyl (TEMPO), triphenylniethyl radical (13) and galvinoxyl (14). Some examples of carbon-centered radicals which are persistent but which do not have intrinsic thermodynamic stability are shown in Section 1.4.3.2. These radicals (DPPH, TEMPO, 13, 14) are comparatively stable in isolation as solids or in solution and either do not react or react very slowly with compounds usually thought of as substrates for radical reactions. They may, nonetheless, react with less stable radicals at close to diffusion controlled rates. In polymer synthesis these species find use as inhibitors (to stabilize monomers against polymerization or to quench radical reactions - Section 5,3.1) and as reversible termination agents (in living radical polymerization - Section 9.3). 

Primary radical termination is also of demonstrable significance when very high rates of initiation or very low monomer concentrations are employed. It should be noted that these conditions pertain in all polymerizations at high conversion and in starved feed processes. Some syntheses of telechelics are based on this process (Section 7.5.1). Reversible primary radical termination by combination with a persistent radical is the desired pathway in many forms of living radical polymerization (Section 9.3). 

A living radical polymerization mechanism was proposed for the polymerization of MMA23 -240 and VAc241 initiated by certain aluminum complexes in the presence of nilroxides. It was originally thought that a carbon-aluminum bond was formed in a reversible termination step. However, a more recent study found the results difficult to reproduce and the mechanism to be complex.242... 

Oganova et a/. observed that certain cobalt (II) porphyrin complexes reversibly inhibit BA polymerization presumably with formation of a cobalt (111) intermediate as shown in Scheme 9.27. Thus, it seemed reasonable to propose these species may function as initiators in living radical polymerization.250 259... 

While in most of the reports on SIP free radical polymerization is utihzed, the restricted synthetic possibihties and lack of control of the polymerization in terms of the achievable variation of the polymer brush architecture limited its use. The alternatives for the preparation of weU-defined brush systems were hving ionic polymerizations. Recently, controlled radical polymerization techniques has been developed and almost immediately apphed in SIP to prepare stracturally weU-de-fined brush systems. This includes living radical polymerization using nitroxide species such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidin-l-oxyl (TEMPO) [285], reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization mainly utilizing dithio-carbamates as iniferters (iniferter describes a molecule that functions as an initiator, chain transfer agent and terminator during polymerization) [286], as well as atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) were the free radical is formed by a reversible reduction-oxidation process of added metal complexes [287]. All techniques rely on the principle to drastically reduce the number of free radicals by the formation of a dormant species in equilibrium to an active free radical. By this the characteristic side reactions of free radicals are effectively suppressed. 

Tetramethylpiperidine-l-oxy (TEMPO)-containing alkoxyamine derivatives are widely used as unimolecular initiators for living radical polymerization [5], The key step of the presently accepted mechanism of polymerization is the reversible capping of the polymer chain by the nitroxide radical. In 2002, Otsuka and Takahara applied the reversible... 

Living radical polymerization (LRP) with reversible termination generally proceeds as... 

Hawker et al. 2001 Hawker and Wooley 2005). Recent developments in living radical polymerization allow the preparation of structurally well-defined block copolymers with low polydispersity. These polymerization methods include atom transfer free radical polymerization (Coessens et al. 2001), nitroxide-mediated polymerization (Hawker et al. 2001), and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (Chiefari et al. 1998). In addition to their ease of use, these approaches are generally more tolerant of various functionalities than anionic polymerization. However, direct polymerization of functional monomers is still problematic because of changes in the polymerization parameters upon monomer modification. As an alternative, functionalities can be incorporated into well-defined polymer backbones after polymerization by coupling a side chain modifier with tethered reactive sites (Shenhar et al. 2004 Carroll et al. 2005 Malkoch et al. 2005). The modification step requires a clean (i.e., free from side products) and quantitative reaction so that each site has the desired chemical structures. Otherwise it affords poor reproducibility of performance between different batches. 

Reversible redox reactions can initiate radical chemistry without a follow-up reduction or oxidation reaction. In successful reactions of this type, the redox step that produces the radical is thermodynamically disfavored. For example, Cu(I) complexes react reversibly with alkyl hahdes to give Cu(II) hahde complexes and an alkyl radical. The alkyl radical can react in, for example, an addition reaction, and the product radical will react with the Cu(II) hahde to give a new alkyl halide. This type of reaction sequence, which has been apphed in living radical polymerizations, is in the general family of nonchain radical reactions discussed earlier. ... 

The need to better control surface-initiated polymerization recently led to the development of controlled radical polymerization techniques. The trick is to keep the concentration of free radicals low in order to decrease the number of side reactions. This is achieved by introducing a dormant species in equilibrium with the active free radical. Important reactions are the living radical polymerization with 2,2,4,4-methylpiperidine N-oxide (TEMPO) [439], reversible addition fragment chain transfer (RAFT) which utilizes so-called iniferters (a word formed from initiator, chain transfer and terminator) [440], and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) [441-443]. The latter forms radicals by added metal complexes as copper halogenides which exhibit reversible reduction-oxidation processes. 

Living radical polymerizations in miniemulsions have also been conducted by de Brouwer et al. using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) and nonionic surfactants [98]. The polydispersity index was usually below 1.2. The living character is further exemplified by its transformation into block copolymers. 

In 1985, Rizzardo et al.27 filed a patent for the use of alkoxyamines (Scheme 12) as regulating initiators for the living radical polymerization and block copolymerization of vinyl monomers. R is a group that upon dissociation (Scheme 10) forms a radical that adds to the monomer. The mechanism was disclosed shortly thereafter and involves the reversible dissociations shown in Scheme 11, with the nitroxide radical taking the role of X.28 In a later simulation, the group also revealed the reason for the remarkable absence of the usual terminations and rediscovered the principles of the persistent radical effect 29 As chains undergo termination transient radicals are removed from the system and the concentration of persistent species builds . Further, the authors noted correctly that, in contrast to normal radical polymer-... 

A kinetic study of living radical polymerizations of acrylates initiated by the (tetramesitylporphyronato)-cobalt(III) organo complexes (TMP)Co—CH(CH3)C02-Me and (Br8TMP)Co—CH(CH3)C02Me has been reported by Wayland et al.122 They applied an initial excess of the free cobalt complex and obtained the equilibrium constant for the reversible dissociation of the complex—poly(methyl acrylate) bond as K = 4.2 x 10 10 M for (TMP)Co and K= 1.3 x 10 8 M for (BrgTMP)Co from the rate of monomer consumption at 50 °C. The temperature dependence led to a bond... 

The metal-catalyzed living radical polymerization thus proceeds (or at least is mostly considered to proceed) via reversible activation of carbon—halogen terminals by the metal complex, where the metal center undergoes redox reactions via interaction with the halogens at the polymer terminal, as shown in Scheme 3. The reaction is usually initiated by the... 

One of the most important components in the metal-catalyzed living radical polymerization is the transition-metal complex. As a catalyst, the complex induces reversible activation (homolytic cleavage) of... 

Scheme 4. Reverse-Type Metal-Catalyzed Living Radical Polymerization...

The ratio between the rates of parallel eqs 18 and 19 is an issue of practical importance. Cobalt chelates may be good capping agents in living radical polymerization, LRP.206-207 This requires that eq 19 be reversible and the forward and backward (eq 20) rates be approximately equal. 

MAYADUNNE R.T.A., RIZZARDO E., CHIEF ARI J., CHONG Y.K., MOAD G., THANG S.H., Living radical polymerization with reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT polymerization) using dithiocarbamates as chain transfer agent. Macromolecules, (1999), 32 (21), 6977-80. 

Living-radical polymerizations are essentially conventional radical polymerizations performed in the presence of some species that react reversibly with the... 

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