Cobalt-catalyzed chain transfer in methyl methacrylate (MMA) or
methacrylonitrile (MAN)
polymerizations employing very high concentrations of catalyst allows
the detailed investigation of the
reaction of primary radicals with monomers. The enabling reaction
is the transfer of a hydrogen atom
from a Co(III)−H species to monomer to generate the monomer
radicals (H-MMA• and H-MAN•,
respectively). These radicals react with additional monomer
yielding the dimer radicals, H-MMA2
•
and
H-MAN2
•, respectively, or with the cobalt
catalyst to yield the starting monomer. These reactions
generate
the respective dimers relatively free of higher oligomers. This
approach has allowed the determination
of the rates of reaction of the monomer radical
(k
p1) and dimer radical
(k
p2) with monomer.
H-MAN•
reacts with methacrylonitrile at a rate (k
p1 =
340 ± 40 M-1 s-1
at 60 °C) which is considerably faster
than does a high polymer radical (literature:
k
p
∞ ≡ k
p
= 55 M-1 s-1 for
MAN at 60 °C). For H-MMA• at
60 °C, k
p1 = 14 000 ± 1500
M-1 s-1 and for
H-MMA2
•, k
p2 = 3600
M-1 s-1, relative
to the literature value
for H-MMA∞
•, k
p =
843 M-1 s-1.
It was also possible to determine the rate constants of catalytic
chain
transfer by the cobalt catalysts; in MMA free-radical polymerization at
60 °C, k
s2 = 2.3 × 106
M-1 s-1
for
the tetramethyl ether of [hematoporphyrinato IX]cobalt(II)
and 2.8 × 106 M-1
s-1 for
[tetra(p-methoxyphenyl)porphyrinato]cobalt(II).
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