Comparing copper, ruthenium, and osmium atom transfer radical polymerization catalyst activity

POLY 125

Wade A. Braunecker, wbraunec@andrew.cmu.edu, William C. Brown, and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, km3b@andrew.cmu.edu. Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213
The reducing power of several copper, ruthenium, and osmium atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) catalysts was quantified with cyclic voltammetry in tetrahydrofuran, including for MtX2(PPh3)3, MtX(Cp*)PiPr3, and CuX2(BPMODA) (where Mt = Ru and Os, X = Cl and Br, and BPMODA = N,N,-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)octadecylamine). Spectrophotometric measurements are used to determine ATRP equilibrium constants (KATRP) for the complexes. OsBr(Cp*)PiPr3 proved one of the most active ATRP complexes known to date (KATRP with 1-phenylethyl bromide in tetrahydrofuran = 3.2x10-5), being over 10,000 times more active than its RuCl(Cp*)PiPr3 analogue. Ru and Os catalysts of comparable activity to Cu are approximately 500 mV less reducing. Evaluation of E1/2 and KATRP values allowed the indirect determination that halogen affinities of these Ru and Os compounds must be approximately 7-9 orders of magnitude stronger than typical Cu ATRP catalysts to compensate for their comparatively poor reducing power.