Monomers, acetylene terminated radical polymerization

Metal complexes bound to a polymer support most frequently induce ionic polymerization of olefins, dienes and acetylenes, and less commonly radical polymerization of vinyl-type monomers, acting at all reaction stages initiation, chain propagation and termination. Active sites for the addition of monomer molecules to the growing polymer chain can in many cases be regenerated yielding new polymer chains (catalysis via a polymer chain). 

A substantial effort in this laboratory has been directed toward the synthesis and characterization of acetylene terminated oligomers for use as addition-curable, moisture-resistant, thermoset systems. Early work on the acetylene-terminated phenylquinoxalines demonstrated the moisture insensitivity of the product generated from the thermal cure. Studies of various difunctional acetylene-terminated monomers has demonstrated that the polymerization is a free radical propogation of the acetylene moiety to a linear conjugated polyene. 

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