Cu powder‐catalyzed single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization of acrylonitrile

Single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) has been used as a new technique for the synthesis of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) catalyzed by Cu(0) powder with carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) as the initiator and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as the ligand in N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) or mixed solvent. Well‐controlled polymerization has been achieved as evidenced by a linear increase of molecular weight with respect to monomer conversion as well as narrow molecular weight distribution. Kinetics data of the polymerizations at both ambient temperature and elevated temperature demonstrate living/controlled feature. An increase in the concentration of ligand yields a higher monomer conversion within the same time frame and almost no polymerization occurs in the absence of ligand due to the poor disproportionation reaction of Cu(I). The reaction rate exhibits an increase with the increase of the amount of catalyst Cu(0)/HMTA. Better control on the molecular weight distribution has been produced with the addition of CuCl₂. In the presence of more polar solvent water, it is observed that there is a rapid increase in the polymerization rate. The effect of initiator on the polymerization is also preliminarily investigated. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

SET‐LRP of acrylonitrile catalyzed by tin powder

Sn(0)‐mediated single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) of acrylonitrile (AN) with carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) as initiator and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as ligand in N, N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) was studied. The polymerization obeyed first order kinetic. The molecular weight of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) increased linearly with monomer conversion and PAN exhibited narrow molecular weight distributions. Increasing the content of Sn(0) resulted in an increase in the molecular weight and the molecular weight distribution. Effects of ligand and initiator were also investigated. The block copolymer PAN‐b‐polymethyl methacrylate with molecular weight at 126,130 and polydispersity at 1.36 was successfully obtained. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

A copper‐based reverse atom‐transfer radical polymerization process for the living radical polymerization of polyacrylonitrile

The reverse atom‐transfer radical polymerization (RATRP) technique using CuCl₂/2,2′‐bipyridine (bipy) complex as a catalyst was applied to the living radical polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN). A hexasubstituted ethane thermal iniferter, diethyl 2,3‐dicyano‐2,3‐diphenylsuccinate (DCDPS), was firstly used as the initiator in this copper‐based RATRP initiation system. A CuCl₂ to bipy ratio of 0.5 not only gives the best control of molecular weight and its distribution, but also provides rather rapid reaction rate. The rate of polymerization increases with increasing the polymerization temperature, and the apparent activation energy was calculated to be 57.4 kJ mol^?1. Because the polymers obtained were end‐functionalized by chlorine atoms, they were used as macroinitiators to proceed the chain extension polymerization in the presence of CuCl/bipy catalyst system via a conventional ATRP process. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 226–231, 2006     

Samarium powder as catalyst for SET‐LRP of acrylonitrile in 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexafluoro‐2‐propanol for control of molecular weight and tacticity

Samarium powder was applied as a catalyst for single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) of acrylonitrile (AN) in 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexafluoro‐2‐propanol (HFIP) with 2‐bromopropionitrile as initiator and N,N,N′,N′‐tetramethylethylenediamine as ligand. First‐order kinetics of polymerization with respect to the monomer concentration, linear increase of the molecular weight with monomer conversion, and the highly syndiotactic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) obtained indicate that the SET‐LRP of AN could simultaneously control molecular weight and tacticity of PAN. An increase in syndiotacticity of PAN obtained in HFIP was observed compared with that obtained by SET‐LRP in N,‐N‐dimethylformamide (DMF). The syndiotacticity markedly increased with the HFIP volume. The syndiotacticity of PAN prepared by SET‐LRP of AN using Sm powder as catalyst in DMF was higher than that prepared with Cu powder as catalyst. The increase in syndiotacticity of PAN with Sm content was more pronounced than the increase in its isotacticity. The block copolymer PAN‐b‐polymethyl methacrylate (52,310 molecular weight and 1.34 polydispersity) was successfully prepared. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Synthesis and kinetic analysis of DPE controlled radical polymerization of MMA

The 1,1‐diphenylethene (DPE) controlled radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate was performed at 80 °C by using AIBN as an initiator and DPE as a control agent. It was found that the molecular weight of polymer remained constant with monomer conversion throughout the polymerization regardless of the amounts of DPE and initiator in formulation. To understand the result of constant molecular weight of living polymers in DPE controlled radical polymerization, a living kinetic model was established in this research to evaluate all the rate constants involved in the DPE mechanism. The rate constant k₂, corresponding to the reactivation reaction of the DPE capped dormant chains, was found to be very small at 80 °C (1 × 10^?5 s^?1), that accounted for the result of constant molecular weight of polymers throughout the polymerization, analogous to a traditional free radical polymerization system that polymer chains were terminated by chain transfer. The polydispersity index (PDI) of living polymers was well controlled <1.5. The low PDI of obtained living polymers was due to the fact that the rate of growing chains capped by DPE was comparable with the rate of propagation. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2009     

Synthesis of high performance polyacrylonitrile by RASA SET–LRP in the presence of Mg powder

High performance polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was prepared with Mg powder as both reducing agent (RA) and supplemental activator (SA) by single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization (RASA SET‐LRP). First‐order kinetics of polymerization with respect to monomer concentration, linear increase of molecular weight, and narrow polydispersity with monomer conversion, and the obtained high isotacticity PAN indicate that RASA SET‐LRP in the presence of Mg powder could simultaneously control molecular weight and tacticity of PAN. compared with that obtained with ascorbic acid (VC) as RA, an obvious increase in isotacticity of PAN was observed. the block copolymer pan‐b‐pAN with molecular weight at 112,460, polydispersity at 1.33, and isotacticity at 0.314 was successfully prepared. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 3328–3332     

Synthesis of poly(4‐vinylpyridine) by reverse atom transfer radical polymerization

Controlled radical polymerization of 4‐vinylpyridine (4VP) was achieved in a 50 vol % 1‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone/water solvent mixture using a 2,2′‐azobis(2,4‐dimethylpentanitrile) initiator and a CuCl₂/2,2′‐bipyridine catalyst–ligand complex, for an initial monomer concentration of [M]₀ = 2.32–3.24 M and a temperature range of 70–80 °C. Radical polymerization control was achieved at catalyst to initiator molar ratios in the range of 1.3:1 to 1.6:1. First‐order kinetics of the rate of polymerization (with respect to the monomer), linear increase of the number–average degree of polymerization with monomer conversion, and a polydispersity index in the range of 1.29–1.35 were indicative of controlled radical polymerization. The highest number–average degree of polymerization of 247 (number–average molecular weight = 26,000 g/mol) was achieved at a temperature of 70 °C, [M]₀ = 3.24 M and a catalyst to initiator molar ratio of 1.6:1. Over the temperature range studied (70–80 °C), the initiator efficiency increased from 50 to 64% whereas the apparent polymerization rate constant increased by about 60%. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5748–5758, 2007     

SET‐LRP of acrylonitrile in ionic liquids without any ligand

Use of ionic liquids as reaction media was investigated in the design of an environmentally friendly single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) for acrylonitrile (AN) without any ligand by using Fe(0) wire as catalyst and 2‐bromopropionitrile as initiator. 1‐Methylimidazolium acetate ([mim][AT]), 1‐methylimidazolium propionate ([mim][PT]), and 1‐methylimidazolium valerate ([mim][VT]) were applied in this study. First‐order kinetics of polymerization with respect to the monomer concentration, linear increase of the molecular weight, and narrow polydispersity with monomer conversion showed the controlled/living radical polymerization characters. The sequence of the apparent polymerization rate constant of SET‐LRP of AN was k_app ([mim][AT]) > k_app ([mim][PT]) > k_app ([mim][VT]). The living feature of the polymerization was also confirmed by chain extensions of polyacrylonitrile with methyl methacrylate. All three ionic liquids were recycled and reused and had no obvious effect on the controlled/living nature of SET‐LRP of AN. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

A new tetradentate ligand for atom transfer radical polymerization

The properties of a ligand, including molecular structure and substituents, strongly affect the catalyst activity and control of the polymerization in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). A new tetradentate ligand, N,N′‐bis(pyridin‐2‐ylmethyl‐3‐hexoxo‐3‐oxopropyl)ethane‐1,2‐diamine (BPED) was synthesized and examined as the ligand of copper halide for ATRP of styrene (St), methyl acrylate (MA), and methyl methacrylate (MMA), and compared with other analogous linear tetrdendate ligands. The BPED ligand was found to significantly promote the activation reaction: the CuBr/BPED complex reacted with the initiators so fast that a large amount of Cu(II)Br₂/BPED was produced and thus the polymerizations were slow for all the monomers. The reaction of CuCl/BPED with the initiator was also fast, but by reducing the catalyst concentration or adding CuCl₂, the activation reaction could be slowed to establish the equilibrium of ATRP for a well‐controlled living polymerization of MA. CuCl/BPED was found very active for the polymerization of MA. For example, 10 mol% of the catalyst relatively to the initiator was sufficient to mediate a living polymerization of MA. The CuCl/BPED, however, could not catalyze a living polymerization of MMA because the resulting CuCl₂/BPED could not deactivate the growing radicals. The effects of the ligand structures on the catalysis of ATRP are also discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 3553–3562, 2004     

Synthesis of polyacrylonitrile by single‐electron transfer‐living radical polymerization using Fe(0) as catalyst and its adsorption properties after modification

Fe(0) was firstly used as single‐electron transfer‐living radical polymerization catalyst for acrylonitrile polymerization using carbon tetrachloride as initiator, hexamethylenetetramine as N‐ligand, and N,N‐dimethylformamide as the solvent at 65 °C. First‐order kinetic studies indicated that this polymerization proceeded in a “living”/controlled manner. The living nature of the polymerization was also confirmed by chain extension of methyl methacrylate with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as macroinitiator. Furthermore, PAN was modified with NH₂OH·HCl to generate amidoxime groups for extraction of heavy metal ions (Hg²⁺) from aqueous solutions. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy was performed to characterize chemical composition and structure. The adsorption property of Hg²⁺ was investigated at different pH values of aqueous solutions and distilled water. The maximal saturated adsorption capacity of Hg²⁺ was 4.8 mmol g^?1. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Atom transfer radical polymerization of ionic liquid 2‐(1‐butylimidazolium‐3‐yl)ethyl methacrylate tetrafluoroborate

Polymeric forms of ionic liquids may have many potential applications because of their high thermal stability and ionic nature. They are generally synthesized by conventional free‐radical polymerization. Here we report a living/controlled free‐radical polymerization of an ionic liquid monomer, 2‐(1‐butylimidazolium‐3‐yl)ethyl methacrylate tetrafluoroborate (BIMT), via atom transfer radical polymerization. Copper bromide/bromide based initiator systems polymerized BIMT very quickly with little control because of fast activation but slow deactivation. With copper chloride as the catalyst and trichloroacetate, CCl₄, or ethyl α‐chlorophenylacetate as the initiator, BIMT was polymerized at 60 °C in acetonitrile with first‐order kinetics with respect to the monomer concentration. The molecular weight was linearly dependent on the conversion. The monomer concentration strongly affected the polymerization: a low monomer concentration caused the polymerization to be incomplete, probably because of catalyst disproportionation in polar solvents. The addition of a small amount of pyridine suppressed such disproportionation, but a further increase in the amount of pyridine greatly slowed the polymerization. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5794–5801, 2004     

Fast copper catalyzed living radical polymerization of acrylonitrile utilizing a high concentration of radical initiator

This article first reports a fast and controlled living radical polymerization (LRP) of acrylonitrile, evidenced by 81.3% monomer conversion within 40 min and well‐defined the polymers with a narrow polydispersity index (PDI) range of 1.14?1.38. This was achieved by utilizing azobis(isobutyronitrile) as radical initiator with a high concentration up to 190 mM and CuBr₂ as catalyst with a very low concentration down to 50 ppm. The polymerization displayed typical LRP characteristics, including pseudo first‐order kinetics of polymerization, the linear increase of number‐average molecular weights (MWs), low PDI values. The influence of various experimental components, radical initiator concentration, catalyst concentration, and reaction temperature, on the polymerization reaction and MW as well as PDI has been investigated in detail. ¹H NMR and gel permeation chromatography analyses as well as chain extension reaction confirmed the very high chain‐end functionality of the resultant polymer. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

In situ atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene with a tetraethylthiuram disulfide/copper bromide/2,2′‐bipyridine initiating system

The living radical polymerization of styrene in bulk was successfully performed with a tetraethylthiuram disulfide/copper bromide/2,2′‐bipyridine (bpy) initiating system. The initiator Et₂NCS₂Br and the catalyst cuprous bromide (CuBr) were produced from the reactants in the system through in situ atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). A plot of natural logarithm of the ratio of original monomer concentration to monomer concentration at present, ln([M]₀/[M]) versus time gave a straight line, indicating that the kinetics was first‐order. The number‐average molecular weight from gel permeation chromatography (GPC) of obtained polystyrenes did not agree well with the calculated number‐average molecular weight but did correspond to a 0.5 initiator efficiency. The polydispersity index (i.e., the weight‐average molecular weight divided by the number‐average molecular weight) of obtained polymers was as low as 1.30. The resulting polystyrene with α‐diethyldithiocarbamate and ω‐Br end groups could initiate methyl methacrylate polymerization in the presence of CuBr/bpy or cuprous chloride/bpy complex catalyst through a conventional ATRP process. The block polymer was characterized with GPC, ¹H NMR, and differential scanning calorimetry. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 4001–4008, 2001     

Synthesis of zwitterionic polymer by SET‐LRP at room temperature in aqueous

The Cu⁰‐mediated single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization of acrylamide and N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐methacryloyloxyethyl‐N‐sulfobutyl ammonium in aqueous at 25 °C using 2‐chloropropionamide as initiator with Cu⁰ powder/tris‐(2‐dimethylamino ethyl)amine (Me₆‐TREN) as catalyst system is studied. The results showed the characteristic of the “living” polymerization that were the M_n of polymers increased linearly with monomer conversion and the ln([M]₀/[M]) increased linearly with time too, meanwhile the narrow molecular of weight distributions were found at most cases. Because of the high rate constant of propagation and bimolecular termination of the acrylamide, the external addition of CuCl₂ is required to mediate deactivation the early stage of polymerization. In addition, the disproportionation constant of Cu^IX/L in H₂O is higher than in other solvents and the coordination of amino group and Cu^II takes place easily, so the isopropanol or N,N‐dimethylformamide is added to control the polymerization. High conversions were achieved within short time and the polymers prepared showed good antipolyelectrolyte properties in inorganic salts solutions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Synthesis of PMMA‐b‐PBA block copolymer in homogeneous and miniemulsion systems by DPE controlled radical polymerization

In this research, poly(methyl methacrylate)‐b‐poly(butyl acrylate) (PMMA‐b‐PBA) block copolymers were prepared by 1,1‐diphenylethene (DPE) controlled radical polymerization in homogeneous and miniemulsion systems. First, monomer methyl methacrylate (MMA), initiator 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and a control agent DPE were bulk polymerized to form the DPE‐containing PMMA macroinitiator. Then the DPE‐containing PMMA was heated in the presence of a second monomer BA, the block copolymer was synthesized successfully. The effects of solvent and polymerization methods (homogeneous polymerization or miniemulsion polymerization) on the reaction rate, controlled living character, molecular weight (M_n) and molecular weight distribution (PDI) of polymers throughout the polymerization were studied and discussed. The results showed that, increasing the amounts of solvent reduced the reaction rate and viscosity of the polymerization system. It allowed more activation–deactivation cycles to occur at a given conversion thus better controlled living character and narrower molecular weight distribution of polymers were demonstrated throughout the polymerization. Furthermore, the polymerization carried out in miniemulsion system exhibited higher reaction rate and better controlled living character than those in homogeneous system. It was attributed to the compartmentalization of growing radicals and the enhanced deactivation reaction of DPE controlled radical polymerization in miniemulsified droplets. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 4435–4445, 2009     

“Nascent” Cu(0) nanoparticles‐mediated single electron transfer living radical polymerization of acrylonitrile at ambient temperature

Zn(0)/ppm concentrations of CuBr₂ from 10 to 50 ppm was firstly used to catalyze radical polymerization of acrylonitrile at ambient temperature. The polymerization displayed typical living radical polymerization (LRP) characteristics, as evidenced by pseudo first‐order kinetics of polymerization, linear increase of number‐average molecular weight, and low polydispersity index (PDI) value. Effects of solvent, copper concentration, and initiator concentration on the polymerization reaction and molecular weight as well as PDI were investigated in detail. EC excelled NMP, DMF, and DMSO in terms of rate of polymerization as well as control of molecular weight and PDI. The increase of the copper concentration from 2.5 to 50 ppm leads to a higher rate of polymerization and a better control over the polymerization reaction. ¹H NMR and GPC analyses as well as chain extension reaction confirmed the very high chain‐end functionality of the resultant polymer. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013     

Copper‐mediated initiators for continuous activator regeneration atom transfer radical polymerization of acrylonitrile

Initiators for continuous activator regeneration atom transfer radical polymerization technique was first accessed to acrylonitrile by using CuBr₂/2,2′‐bipyridine as the catalyst, ethyl 2‐bromoisobutyrate as the halogen initiator, and azobis(isobutyronitrile) as the free radical initiator. The key to success is ascribed to the facile achievement of the rapid equilibrium between active species and dormant species. Effects of ligand, catalyst concentration, free radical initiator concentration, and reaction temperature on the polymerization reaction and molecular weight (MW) as well as polydispersity index (PDI) were investigated in detail. The polymerization proceeded in a controlled/living fashion even though the concentration of copper catalyst decreased to 50 ppm, which is evident in pseudo first‐order kinetics of polymerization, linear increase of molecular weight, low PDI, and high chain‐end functionality of the generated polymer. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate catalyzed by ytterbium powder

Zerovalent ytterbium (Yb) powder is firstly used as a catalyst in single electron transfer‐living radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate initiated by carbon tetrachloride in N, N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide, respectively. Polymerization proceeds in a “living”/controlled way as evidenced by kinetic studies and chain extension results, producing well‐defined polymers with controlled degree of polymerization and narrow molecular weight distribution. The apparent activation energy of polymerization in DMF is accounted to be 36.2 kJ/mol, and the energy of equilibrium state is calculated to be 13.9 kJ/mol. An increase in the concentration of Yb(0) yields a higher monomer conversion. It is observed that polymerization rate experiments a rapid increase in the presence of more polar solvent water, and increasing in the content of H₂O results in an increase in the apparent rate constant of polymerization, and a decrease in the molecular weight distribution. The reaction rate and molecular weight increase along with the decrease of DMF content. The effect of Yb(0) powder content, different ligands and concentration of initiator on the polymerization is also investigated. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Iron‐mediated atom transfer radical polymerization of styrene with tris(3,6‐dioxaheptyl) amine as a ligand

The atom transfer radical bulk polymerization of styrene with FeX₂ (X = Br or Cl)/tris(3,6‐dioxaheptyl) amine as the catalyst system was successfully implemented at 110 °C. The number‐average molecular weight of the polymers with a narrow molecular weight distribution (weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight = 1.2–1.5) increased linearly with the monomer conversion and matched the predicted molecular weight. The polymerization rate, initiation efficiency, and molecular weight distribution were influenced by the selection of the initiator and iron halide. The high functionality of the halide end group in the obtained polymers was confirmed by both ¹H NMR and a chain‐extension reaction. Because of its water solubility, the iron complexes could be removed easily from the reaction mixture through the washing of the polymerization mixture with water. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 483–489, 2006     

Reverse atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in room‐temperature ionic liquids

The reverse atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was successfully carried out in 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate with 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile/CuCl₂/bipyridine as the initiating system, which had been reported as not able to promote a controlled process of MMA in bulk. The living nature of the polymerization was confirmed by kinetic studies, end‐group analysis, chain extension, and block copolymerization results. The polydispersity of the polymer obtained was quite narrow, with a weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight ratio of less than 1.2. In comparison with other reverse ATRPs in bulk or conventional solvents, a much smaller amount of the catalyst was used. After a relatively easy removal of the polymer and residue monomer, the ionic liquid and catalytic system could be reused without further treatment. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 143–151, 2003