Reversible addition fragmentation chain initiator

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. 

Spherical gold nanoparticles coated with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) grafts have been synthesized by controlled radical polymerization. The polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide was initiated from the surface of the nanoparticles modified with 4-cyanopentanoic acid dithiobenzoate for reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization. The mean diameter of the Au core was 3.2 nm, as observed by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy [90]. 

Prepared by bulk polymerization, an MIP for the detection of dicrotophos based on the Eu3+ complex has recently been presented [58]. The authors used reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization followed by ring closing methathesis (RCM) to obtain the star MIP with arms made out of block copolymer. The star MIP containing Eu3+ exhibited strong fluorescence when excited at 338 nm with a very narrow emission peak (half width -10 nm) at 614 nm. This MIP was sensitive to dicrotophos in the range of 0-200 ppb, but showed saturation above this limit. Cross-reactivity of this MIP was evaluated with respect to structurally similar compounds dichlorvos, diazinon and dimethyl methylphosphonate. In these tests no optical response of the polymer was detected even at concentrations much higher than the initial concentration of dicrotophos (>1000 ppb). 

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. 

Figure 13.3 Overview showing the use of bifunctional initiators for block-copolymer synthesis. Two examples using either reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization or atom transfer radical polymerization combined with eROP are shown.

The bifunctional initiator approach using reversible addition fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT) as the free-radical controlling mechanism was soon to follow and block copolymers of styrene and caprolactone ensued [58]. In this case, a trithiocarbonate species having a terminal primary hydroxyl group provided the dual initiation (Figure 13.3). The resultant polymer was terminated with a trithiocarbonate reduction of the trithiocarbonate to a thiol allows synthesis of a-hydroxyl-co-thiol polymers which are of particular interest in biopolymer applications. 

BARNER L., QUINN J.F., BARNER-KOWOLLIK C.H., VANA P., DAVIS T.P., Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization initiated with y-radiation at ambient temperature an overview. European Polymer Journal, (2003), 39, 449-459. 

The first step for the core-first stars is the synthesis of multifunctional initiators. Since it is difficult to prepare initiators that tolerate the conditions of ionic polymerization, mostly the initiators are designed for controlled radical polymerization. Calixarenes [39, 58-61], sugars (glucose, saccharose, or cyclodextrins) [62-68], and silsesquioxane NPs [28, 69] have been employed as cores for various star polymers. For the growth of the arms, mostly controlled radical polymerizations were used. There are only very rare cases of stars made from nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMRP) [70] or reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) techniques [71,72], In the RAFT technique one has to differentiate between approaches where the chain transfer agent is attached by its R- or Z-function. ATRP is the most frequently used technique to build various star polymers [27, 28],... 

Using NMP [114, 115] or reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) [ 119,120,127], agents with ammonium groups for the ion exchange allowed the attachment of initiators on the clay surface for controlled radical polymerizations (NMP, RAFT). Samakande et al. investigated the kinetics of RAFT-mediated living polymerization of styrene [120] and styrene/BA [119] mixtures in miniemulsion. 

Alternatively, Whittaker et al. utilized the reversible oxidation/reduction of a thiol-terminated linear polymer as a homocoupling reaction to access macrocycles that could be reversibly cyclized and cleaved (Scheme 12.5) [29]. The linear precursors were prepared using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of styrene from a bifunctional initiator (16). The desired polystyrene with thiol end groups could be isolated in near-quantitative yields by aminolysis of the polymer with terminal dithioester groups (17). The linear dithiols... 

In recent years, focus has moved to the use of living radical polymerization techniques such as atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) for the production of well-defined polymer coatings. Both the grafting from and grafting to approaches have been explored for the attachment of MPC-based polymers onto a variety of substrates. Grafting from requires the incorporation of initiator sites onto the biomaterial surface prior to the polymerization reaction. This usually involves a series of... 

---