Shining a light on catalytic chain transfer

The catalytic chain transfer polymerization of styrene is only truly effective when the reaction mixture is exposed to (UV-)light. The apparent chain transfer constant depends inversely on radical concentration and can be increased up to 8000. These results can be explained by combining aspects of both catalytic chain transfer and the formation of cobalt-carbon bonds. For the catalytic chain transfer polymerization of n-butyl acrylate a chain transfer constant of 650 was found. The resulting transfer coefficient has the same order of magnitude as the one for n-butyl methacrylate. This means that the absence of an α-methyl group hardly influences the transfer step itself. Furthermore, the effect of possible impurities on the catalytic chain transfer polymerization of methyl methacrylate is investigated.