Role of Lewis Acids in Preventing the Degradation of Dithioester-Dormant Species in the RAFT Polymerization of Acrylamides in Methanol to Enable the Successful Dual Control of Molecular Weight and Tacticity

21 May 2021, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of acrylamide in methanol using dithioester RAFT chain-transfer agents was unsuccessful due to degradation of the end group. However, this degradation was completely suppressed by the addition of rare-earth metal triflates (RMTs). As RMTs are effective for the stereoselective polymerization of acrylamides, RAFT polymerization in the presence of RMTs afforded the corresponding poly(acrylamide)s with controlled molecular weight and tacticity. The conditions allowed the synthesis of high-molecular-weight polyacrylamides with molecular weights up to 168,000, low dispersity (<1.5) and high tacticity (90% meso diad selectivity). The degradation mechanism initiated by nucleophilic attack of acrylamide on the dithioester group was experimentally clarified for the first time. As RMT is a Lewis acid, its coordination to the amide group of acrylamide reduces its nucleophilicity.

Keywords

Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization
Stereoselective Radical Poolymerization
RAFT
Lewis Acid
Dual Control

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
PC RAFT SI 06
Description
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.