Metal Complex-Mediated Radical Polymerization

Metal complexes may also act as initiators in stable radical-mediated polymerization with the metal complex perfonning the role of the stable radical. There are reports of titanoceneX cobalt, chromium, iron and 

Oganova et observed that certain cobalt (II) porphyrin complexes 

Wayland et a , reported the use of tetramesitylporphyrin complexes (CoTMP), including 118 and 119 in the synthesis of high molecular weight PMA with very low dispersities (1.1-1.3). Arvanitopoulos ef 7/. have reported similar chemistry with alkylcobaloximes (120) as photoinitiators at low temperatures. 

The most important side reactions are disproportionation between the eobalt(ll) complex and the propagating species and/or -elimination of an alkene from the cobalt(TII) intennediate. Both pathways appear unimportant in the case of acrylate ester polymerizations mediated by Co TMP but are of major importance with methacrylate esters and S. This chemistry, while precluding living polymerization, has led to the development of cobalt complexes for use in catalytic chain transfer (Section 6.2.5), 

It has also been shown that the alkyl cobalt (III) initiator can be generated in situ by adding a fast-decomposing azo-initiator [2,2 -azo-bis(4-mcthoxy-2,4-dimethyl valeronitrilej to a solution of the cobalt (II) complex in monomer. Very narrow dispersity PMA and PMA-WonA-PBA were prepared. 

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ORl OX w di-Miutyl peroxyoxalalc deactivation by reversible chain transfer and bioinolecular aclivaiion 456 atom transfer radical polymerization 7, 250, 456,457, 458,461.486-98 deactivation by reversible coupling and untmolecular activation 455-6, 457-86 carbon-centered radical-mediated poly nierizaiion 467-70 initiators, inferlers and iriiters 457-8 metal complex-mediated radical polymerization 484... 

Lewis acids 436 metal complex-mediated radical polymerization 484-6 molecular weight distributions 251,453-4, 458-60,490-1.499-501 molecular weight conversion dependence 452-3,455... 

The preceding sections have dealt with polymerization by either insertion or GTP mechanisms. Of course, vinyl monomers are also polymerizable by radical, anionic, or cationic mechanisms. In this short section, we summarize the processes which are reasonably well understood from a mechanistic viewpoint, and which involve the intervention of transition metal alkyls (or hydrides), either during initiation, propagation, or chain transfer/termination. A much larger class of polymerization reactions where redox-active transition metal complexes are used to mediate radical polymerizations by reversible atom transfer (ATRP) or other means has been extensively and recently reviewed from a mechanistic perspective and will only be briefly mentioned here. 

The last decades have witnessed the emergence of new living Vcontrolled polymerizations based on radical chemistry [81, 82]. Two main approaches have been investigated the first involves mediation of the free radical process by stable nitroxyl radicals, such as TEMPO while the second relies upon a Kharash-type reaction mediated by metal complexes such as copper(I) bromide ligated with 2,2 -bipyridine. In the latter case, the polymerization is initiated by alkyl halides or arenesulfonyl halides. Nitroxide-based initiators are efficient for styrene and styrene derivatives, while the metal-mediated polymerization system, the so called ATRP (Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization) seems the most robust since it can be successfully applied to the living Vcontrolled polymerization of styrenes, acrylates, methacrylates, acrylonitrile, and isobutene. Significantly, both TEMPO and metal-mediated polymerization systems allow molec-... 

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). 

Certain organometallic compounds can be used to mediate controlled/ living radical polymerization due to their liable and reversibly-cleavable metal-carbon bond. For example, organocobalt complex, such as tetramesitylporphyrinato Co(II) complex [Co(TMP)], has been used to mediate the CRP of aciylates. The first successful cobalt-mediated CRP of VAc was reported by Debuigne and Jerome et. al. using cobalt(ll) acetylacetonate complex Co(acac)2 (Scheme 2) ... 

Thus, one should expect similar behavior for transition metal enolates where there is significant covalent character to the M-O (or M-G) bond. This section will focus on polymerization of (meth)acrylate esters by group 4 metallocene (or the related group 3 and lanthanocene ") initiators where the mechanism of this process is analogous to the classical GTP process. Of course, the polymerization of (meth)acrylates by other transition metal complexes has been reported frequently in the literature however, in many cases the mechanisms of these processes are less well understood or involve free radical or other forms of initiation. Recent examples of other transition metal-mediated methyl methacrylate (MMA) polymerization processes that may proceed via a GTP or anionic mechanism are given. " "- " ... 

Living radical polymerization mediated by transition metal complexes is an area receiving an enormous amount of attention at present. Initial work reported by Sawamoto and Matyjaszewski has led to a huge development in novel catalysts, monomers and polymers. Catalysts based on Ru(II), > In Situ Spectroscopy of Monomer and Polymer Synthesis... 

Shaver and coworkers [319] investigated the mechanism of bis(imino)pyridine ligand framework for transition metal systems-mediated polymerization of vinyl acetate. Initiation using azobisisobu-tyronitrile at 120°C results in excellent control over poly(vinyl acetate) molecular weights and polymer dispersities. The reaction yields vanadium-terminated polymer chains which can be readily converted to both proton-terminated poly(vinyl acetate) or poly(vinyl alcohol). Irreversible halogen transfer from the parent complex to a radical derived from azobisisobutyronitrile generates the active species. 

One and two electron oxidative addition processes that involve electron transfer between alkyl radicals and transition metal species have been exploited in organic synthesis for many years. These reactions can ultimately result in the formation of stable metal-alkyl complexes. The formation of such organometallic species during ATRP would have several implications on the role of the catalyst. The relative bond dissociation energies of the the Mt-R, Mt-X, and R-X bonds would ultimately dictate whether polymerization would be inhibited by the formation of a Mt-R bond, whether initiation efficiency might just be reduced, or whether the entire polymerization could be mediated through the reversible formation of such a Mt-R bond (as in stable free radical polymerization, or SFRP).[ ]... 

In terms of the atom transfer reversible activation mechanism, the most actively studied method is atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), which was first demonstrated in 1995 [41—43]. ATRP reactions use a halogenated initiator (e.g. alkyl halide) to start the polymerization and the halide becomes the removable controlling agent on the polymer chain endgroup. A transition metal complex is present in the formulation to mediate the removal of the halide radical from the polymer chain. The general atom transfer reversible activation scheme shown previously can be represented in more detail for ATRP by the reaction shown in Scheme 13.8. 

A parallel development was initiated by the first publications from Sawamoto and Matyjaszweski. They reported independently on the transition-metal-catalyzed polymerization of various vinyl monomers (14,15). The technique, which was termed atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), uses an activated alkyl halide as initiator, and a transition-metal complex in its lower oxidation state as the catalyst. Similar to the nitroxide-mediated polymerization, ATRP is based on the reversible termination of growing radicals. ATRP was developed as an extension of atom transfer radical addition (ATRA), the so-called Kharasch reaction (16). ATRP turned out to be a versatile technique for the controlled polymerization of styrene derivatives, acrylates, methacrylates, etc. Because of the use of activated alkyl halides as initiators, the introduction of functional endgroups in the polymer chain turned out to be easy (17-22). Although many different transition metals have been used in ATRP, by far the most frequently used metal is copper. Nitrogen-based ligands, eg substituted bipyridines (14), alkyl pyridinimine (Schiff s base) (23), and multidentate tertiary alkyl amines (24), are used to solubilize the metal salt and to adjust its redox potential in order to match the requirements for an ATRP catalyst. In conjunction with copper, the most powerful ligand at present is probably tris[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl)]amine (Mee-TREN) (25). 

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