Transition metal-mediated radical polymerization

Recently, living radical polymerizations have been well developed, and various methods such as (1) iniferter mediated radical polymerization [31], (2) transition metal-mediated radical polymerization or atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) [32-34] (3) nitroxide-mediated free-radical poly-... 

MALDI spectrum of a hydroxyl functional polymer prepared by GTP the level of the impurity is easily seen and the success of this reaction clearly observed. However, this is not a universally applicable technique. Perhaps the most topical living polymerisation at present is transition metal mediated radical polymerization. This typically gives a polymer with a tertiary halide terminal group. This group, as has nitroxide, has been found to be very labile in the mass spectrometer leading to fragmentation. 

Polymers for use in 193 nm lithography are co-, ter-, and tetra-polymers of 1) methacrylates, 2) norbornenes, 3) norbornene-maleic anhydride, 4) nor-bornene-sulfur dioxide, and 5) vinyl ether-maleic anhydride (Fig. 39). While 1), 3), 4), and 5) are prepared by radical polymerization, all-norbornene polymers 2) are synthesized by transition-metal-mediated addition polymerization [166-168].Norbornenes (Fig.40) are sluggish to undergo radical [168,169] and cationic [170] polymerizations. Their ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP, Fig. 40) [ 171 ] has never produced worthy resist polymers. The C=C double bonds introduced in the ROMP polymer backbone must be hydrogenated to reduce the 193 nm absorption and the ROMP polymers tend to have low Tg. However, the major problem for the ROMP polymers was their unacceptable swelling in aqueous base development. While polymethacrylate systems contain etch-resistant alicyclic structures in the ester side chain, norbornene-based systems carry the alicyclic unit in the backbone. Essentially all the 193 nm re-... 

Despite the industrial importance of free-radical-initiated emulsion polymerization, the use of water as a medium for transition metal-mediated coordination polymerization of olefmic monomers has received relatively little atten-... 

In general, the compounds of the Group 4 metals, such as halides and alkoxides, are well known as Lewis acids to catalyze two-electron electrophilic reactions, and their metallocenes coupled with alkylation and/or reduction agents were effective catalysts for the coordination polymerization of olefins. For the transition metal-catalyzed radical polymerization, their alkoxides, such as Ti(Oi-Pr)4, have also been employed as an additive for a better control of the products. Contrary to the common belief that the Group 4 metals rarely undergo a one-electron redox reaction under mild conditions, there have been some reports on the controlled radical polymerization catalyzed or mediated by titanium complexes, although the conflict in the mechanism between the (reverse) ATRP and OMRP is also the case with the Group 4 metal complexes. 

As discussed in Section 7.3, conventional free radical polymerization is a widely used technique that is relatively easy to employ. However, it does have its limitations. It is often difficult to obtain predetermined polymer architectures with precise and narrow molecular weight distributions. Transition metal-mediated living radical polymerization is a recently developed method that has been developed to overcome these limitations [53, 54]. It permits the synthesis of polymers with varied architectures (for example, blocks, stars, and combs) and with predetermined end groups (e.g., rotaxanes, biomolecules, and dyes). 

Cu-mediated Ullman reaction has been used for the polymerization of dihaloaryls. For example, see ref. 3. This type of polymerization as well as other transition-metal-mediated reactions that involve radicals in the polymerization process is not included in this chapter. 

Depending on the nature of the active center, chain-growth reactions are subdivided into radicalic, ionic (anionic, cationic), or transition-metal mediated (coordinative, insertion) polymerizations. Accordingly, they can be induced by different initiators or catalysts. Whether a monomer polymerizes via any of these chain-growth reactions - radical, ionic, coordinative - depends on its con-... 

Polyethylene glycol in the synthesis of materials. PEG has been used as a solvent in polymerization reactions. It was found to facilitate easy removal of the metal catalyst in transition metal mediated living radical polymerization (Figure 8.10). Products from this type of polymerization are usually heavily contaminated with intensely coloured copper impurities. In the case of methyl methacrylate polymerization the reaction rate was higher than in conventional organic solvents, but for styrene the reaction was slower than in xylene. 

Sawamoto, M., Kamigaito, M., 2000. Controlled synthesis of functionalized polymers by transition-metal-mediated living radical polymerization. Macromol. Symp. 161,11—18. 

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. " "- " ... 

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. 

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) reactions mediated by transition metals have also garnered interest.Essentially, ATRP reactions are similar to traditional free-radical polymerization reactions in that they can be described by initiation, propagation, and chain-transfer steps involving carbon radicals. Transition metals mediate this process via redox processes (M => and promoting chain transfer by donation of a... 

Here, the CTC agent acts as a chain transfer terminator but does not initiate new chain in the classical manner. Similarly, Haddleton and co-workers (129) used methyl(2-bromomethyl)acrylate in transition-metal-mediated controlled radical polymerization to replace the -halogen end group via addition-fragmentation to yield a methacrylate-based macromonomer. 

PMMA is mostly homo- or copolymerized in aliphatic hydrocarbon dispersions, using different rubbers, polysiloxanes, long-chain polymethacrylates, or different block and graft copolymers as stabilizers. An interesting variant of the dispersion polymerization of acrylates is carried out in supercritical carbon dioxide [45,46]. Transition-metal-mediated living radical suspension polymerization is discussed in Ref. [47]. Common radical initiators are described in Refs. [48] and [49]. The entire field is reviewed extensively in Ref. [50]. 

Wang, X.S., Malet, F.L.G., Armes, S.P., Haddleton, D.M. and Perrier, S. (2001) Unexpected viability of pyridyl methanimine based Ugands for transition-metal-mediated hving radical polymerization in aqueous medium at ambient temperature. Macromolecules, 34,162-164. 

---