Phenols as accelerators for copper mediated – living radical polymerization in nonpolar solvents –set vs. ATRP?

POLY 38

Peter M Wright, p.m.wright@warwick.ac.uk, Giuseppe Mantovani, and David M. Haddleton, d.m.haddleton@warwick.ac.uk. Department of Chemistry, The University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
In a recent development reported by Percec et. al. polar solvents are used in conjunction with Cu(0) which allow for the ultra-fast synthesis of polymers of ultra-high molecular weights at ambient temperature via a process termed Single Electron Transfer – Living Radical Polymerization (SET-LRP). In this work phenol has been used as an additive to enhance the rate of copper-catalyzed polymerization of methyl acrylate in toluene at ambient temperature. A direct relationship between reaction time and amount of phenol added has been found. The polymers made were of narrow PDi and of a controlled molecular weight demonstrating the robustness of the technique.
 

General Papers: Functional Materials
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Sunday, August 19, 2007 Westin Boston Waterfront -- Douglas, Oral

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007