A Novel Photopolymerization Initiating System Based on an Iridium Complex Photocatalyst

The use of a photocatalyst (tris(2‐phenylpyridine)iridium [Ir(ppy)₃]) being able to generate both radicals and cations to initiate free radical polymerization and ring opening polymerization is presented. Remarkably, under soft irradiations (fluorescence bulb, sunlight), excellent cationic polymerization profiles and final conversions are obtained. The involved mechanisms are investigated by ESR experiments.

     

Photoinduced Controlled Radical Polymerization

Well‐controlled radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate can be achieved by in situ photochemical generation of copper (I) complex from air‐stable copper (II) species without using any reducing agent at room temperature. The living character of this polymerization was confirmed by both the linear tendency of molecular weight evolution with conversion and a chain extension experiment.

     

Polymerization of Vinyl Ethers by (α‐diimine)NiII/Methylaluminoxane Catalysts

Polymerizations of vinyl ethers are carried out with (α‐diimine)nickel(II ) catalysts in the presence of methylaluminoxane. Effects of structural variations of the ligand on the activities of catalysts and polymer microstructure are described. The catalysts prepared by changing the bulkiness of ligand substituents in the ortho aryl position result in no specific trends terms of the yield and molecular weight of polymer. Poly(vinyl ether)s are atactic regardless of the structure of the catalyst used.

     

Phenoxy–Ether Ligated Ti Complexes for the Polymerization of Ethylene

Summary: Bis(phenoxy–ether) Ti complexes were investigated as ethylene polymerization catalysts. The complexes, combined with iBu₃Al/Ph₃CB(C₆F₅)₄ or methylaluminoxane (MAO) cocatalysts, can be highly active single‐site catalysts, which display activities ( turnover frequency, max. 2 065 min⁻¹) comparable with that of a highly active bis(phenoxy–imine) Ti complex/MAO system, and provide very high molecular weight polyethylenes ( 2 040 000–5 420 000) at 25 °C under atmospheric pressure.

Synthesis of polyethylene using bis(phenoxy–ether) Ti complexes, an example of which is shown.     

New Star‐Shaped Metallo‐Polymeric Chromophores

The synthesis of new star‐shaped polymers, prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate with tris(dialkylaminostyryl‐2,2′‐bipyridine) zinc(II) and iron(II) metalloinitiators, is reported. Their thermal and optical (absorption and emission) properties are discussed.

Structure of the star‐shaped polymers.     

Tertiary Amine — Enhanced Activity of ATRP Catalysts CuBr/TPMA and CuBr/Me6TREN

Tertiary amines were found to remarkably enhance the catalytic activity of ATRP catalysts CuBr/tris[(2‐pyridyl)methyl]amine and CuBr/tris[2‐(dimethylamino)ethylamine]. These two catalysts alone failed to polymerize MA, MMA, and styrene at reduced catalyst concentrations. With tertiary amines such as triethylamine both catalysts could mediate fast polymerizations of the three monomers in a controlled manner at as low as 1 mol‐% catalyst relative to initiator. A mechanism study showed that tertiary amines reduced copper(II) complexes to active copper(I) complexes.

     

Novel Hole‐Transport Material for Efficient Polymer Light‐Emitting Diodes by Photoreaction

Summary: The photo‐crosslinking of carbazole dendrimers was analyzed by UV and IR spectroscopic methods. Photoirradiation results in the formation of a film that is insoluble in toluene and benzene. Time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry studies revealed that the photoirradiation lead to an oligomerization of the dendrimer through crosslinking. The resulting insoluble dendrimer film could be applied as a hole‐transport layer in efficient polymer electroluminescence devices (PLEDs).

Luminance‐voltage characteristics for PLEDs wherein PEDOT:PSS and CbzG3 complex with SnCl₂ were employed as the hole transport layer (ITO/HTL/EML/Ca/Ag).     

A Mixed Ruthenium Polypyridyl Complex Containing a PEG‐Bipyridine Macroligand

Summary: An amino‐functionalized bipyridine ligand was prepared in order to serve as a bridging unit to an activated low‐molecular‐weight monomethyl ether of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Coordination of a ruthenium(II ) phenantroline precursor onto the formed PEG‐containing bipyridine ligand yielded a metal‐containing polymer which shows interesting properties for solar cell applications.

A schematic of the described polymeric ruthenium(II ) complex and its absorption and emission properties.     

Tuning the Reactivity of N,O,O,O‐Non‐Metallocene Catalysts for α‐Olefin Polymerization: Issues Related to Ligand Symmetry and Derivatization

Summary: Titanium‐based precatalysts, bearing C₃ or pseudo‐C_s symmetric aminotriol ligands, upon activation with methylaluminoxane, polymerize hex‐1‐ene to give polymers of high molecular weight, i.e., 50 000 and 600 000, respectively, with low dispersity, 1.2–1.4, and high isotacticity, 85–60%, depending on the overall symmetry of the precatalysts, but when one arm of the aminotriol ligands is methylated to yield C₂ or meso aminodiol ligands, their corresponding titanium catalysts gave higher‐molecular‐weight polyhexenes, 300 000 to 250 000, with lower dispersities, 1.07–1.11, which possibly suggests living polymerization, with activities 200–500 times greater than that of the parent C₃ and pseudo‐C_s catalysts.

     

Highly Efficient and Well‐Controlled Ambient Temperature RAFT Polymerization under Solar Radiation

Highly efficient and well‐controlled ambient temperature reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization is readily carried out under environmentally friendly mild solar radiation. This discovery has significantly extended studies from man‐made separated‐spectroscopic‐emission UV‐vis radiation (Macromolecules 2006 , 39, 3770) to natural continuous‐spectroscopic‐emission solar radiation for ambient temperature RAFT polymerization.

     

Titanium‐Catalyzed Norbornene Oligomerization. Isolation of a Crystalline Heptamer with a 2,3‐exo‐Disyndiotactic Structure

Summary: Norbornene (NB) was oligomerized at 0 °C using AlEt₂Cl‐TiCl₄ at a monomer/titanium molar ratio of about 11. The oligomerization product consists of a fraction soluble in diethyl ether, amorphous by X‐ray examination, and of a crystalline fraction, insoluble in diethyl ether. The crystalline fraction was shown by powder X‐ray diffraction to consist of a NB heptamer. Single‐crystal X‐ray analysis indicated that the heptamer had a stereoregular 2,3‐exo‐disyndiotactic structure. The heptamer adopts a strained, highly irregular, folded conformation in the crystalline state. Structural differences with respect to NB oligomers obtained with zirconocene catalysts are discussed.

A view of the molecular structure of the crystalline NB heptamer.     

Fluorinated Hyperbranched Polyimide for Optical Waveguides

A novel fluorinated hyperbranched polyimide (HBPI) is synthesized by using a new triamine monomer, 1,3,5‐tris(2‐trifluoromethyl‐4‐aminophenoxy)benzene (TFAPOB) (A₃), as a ‘core’ molecule, 4,4‐(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) as a B₂ monomer, and 3,5‐ditrifuoromethylphenyl as an endcapping reagent. The polymer shows a glass transition temperature of 232 °C and a temperature of 10% weight loss at 535 °C. The HBPI presents a birefringence as low as 0.002 at 650 nm. Near‐IR results indicate that HBPI exhibits desirable properties for low loss optical waveguide applications.

     

Synthesis of Branched Polyglucans by the Tandem Action of Potato Phosphorylase and Deinococcus geothermalis Glycogen Branching Enzyme

An enzymatic tandem reaction is described in which the enzymes phosphorylase and Deinococcus geothermalis glycogen branching enzyme (Dg GBE) catalyze the synthesis of branched polyglucans from glucose‐1‐phosphate (G‐1‐P). Phosphorylase consumes G‐1‐P and polymerizes linear amylose while Dg GBE introduces branching points on the α‐(1 → 6) positions by reshuffling short oligosaccharides. The resulting branched polyglucans have an unusually high degree of branching of 11%.

     

Non‐Catalyst Synthesis of Functionalized Biodegradable Polycarbonate

The thermal ring‐opening polymerization of 5‐benzyloxy‐trimethylene carbonate (BTMC) in bulk in the absence of any catalyst resulted in high molecular weight poly(BTMC) ( = 80 300) and subsequent catalytic hydrogenolysis resulted in functional poly(5‐hydroxyl‐trimethylene carbonate) (PHTMC). Similar spontaneous polymerization of BTMC in the presence of PEG ( = 2 000) as a macroinitiator can provide amphiphilic block polymers. The results revealed that the thermal non‐catalyst (co)polymerization of BTMC is a highly attractive preparative method because of the lack of usage of toxic initiators or catalysts. Furthermore, an evaluation of the degradation and cytotoxicity of PHTMC demonstrated enhanced degradability compared to poly(trimethylene carbonate) and similar toxicity compared to PLGA, showing PHTMC to be a promising biomaterial.

     

Free-radical polymerization of vinyl monomers using hematin as a biomimetic catalyst in place of enzyme

This paper reports the free-radical polymerization of vinyl monomers catalyzed by hematin. The polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was carried out in the presence of hematin and H₂O₂, giving polyMMA, quantitatively. In the case of the polymerization of styrene and acrylamide, 2,4-pentanedione as a radical mediator was required in addition to hematin and H₂O₂. The polymerization of styrene reached an upper limit, whereas that of acrylamide proceeded in an almost quantitative conversion.

     

Determination of the Catalytic Sites for Ziegler‐Natta Homo‐Polymerization from GPC Data

Deconvolution of the MWD of a polymer produced by multi‐site catalysts into independent Flory modes is the first step in modeling the polymerization process. A new deconvolution procedure for GPC data is developed that does not require an a priori assumption concerning the nature of the discrete distribution and can be used with a continuous distribution. The MWD measured via GPC is a linear function of the individual catalytic sites, but it is numerically ill‐conditioned, preventing direct inversion of the GPC data. Tikhonov regularization has been developed to uniquely invert the MWD. Applying the regularizing method to a polyethylene produced via a Ziegler‐Natta catalyst, seven discrete sites were found, and the kinetic constant ratios were determined for each of these sites.

     

Highly Active Syndiospecific Living Polymerization of Higher 1‐Alkene with ansa‐Fluorenylamidodimethyltitanium Complex

1‐Hexene polymerization was conducted by [t‐BuNSiMe₂(3,6‐t‐Bu₂Flu)]TiMe₂ ( 1 ) using trialkylaluminum‐free modified methylaluminoxane (dMMAO) as a cocatalyst in toluene. The system produced living syndiotactic poly(1‐hexene) with high turnover frequency of propagation (TOF, 98 s⁻¹) at 0 °C. The propagation rate was increased linearly against the 1‐hexene concentration, which indicates that the first‐order dependence of the propagation rate on monomer concentration. Polymerizations of 1‐octene, 1‐decene and 1‐dodecene were also conducted for investigating the effect of chain length of 1‐alkene on propagation rate by means of the livingness of this system. The propagation rate decreased according to the chain length until 1‐decene but almost unchanged in longer 1‐alkene: TOF, 1‐octene (62 s⁻¹)>1‐decene (32 s⁻¹) ≈ 1‐dodecene (31 s⁻¹).

     

Electron Beam‐Based Functionalization of Poly(ethersulfone) Membranes

Poly(ethersulfone) membranes were surface modified in a one‐step procedure. For this purpose, the membranes were soaked with aqueous solutions of different low‐molecular weight molecules bearing diverse hydrophilic functionalities and subject to electron beam treatment. No catalysts, photoinitiators, organic solvents or other toxic reagents were used, and no additional synthetic or purification steps were required.

     

Influence of Copolymerization on Fragmentation Behavior Using Ziegler‐Natta Catalysts

Summary: A morphological investigation was carried out on different Ziegler‐Natta catalysts during the early stages of propylene homo‐ and propylene‐ethylene copolymerization. For similar polymerization conditions, but dependent on the nature of the catalysts, fragmentation occurs layer‐by‐layer or instantaneously into a large amount of small pieces. However, the incorporation of comonomer ethylene slows down the fragmentation progress. This is believed to be the result of the higher mobility of the just formed propylene‐ethylene copolymer molecules at the active sites.

SEM images of the cross‐sectional morphology of polymer particles from catalyst‐I.