Living/controlled copolymerization of acrylates with nonactivated alkenes

Abstract

The living/controlled copolymerization of methyl acrylate with 1-alkenes and norbornene derivatives through several radical polymerization techniques has been achieved. These techniques include atom transfer radical polymerization, reversible addition-fragmentation transfer polymer-ization, nitroxide-mediated polymerization, and degenerative transfer polymerization. These systems display many of the characteristics of a living polymerization process: the molecular weight increases linearly with the overall conversion, but the polydispersity remains low. Novel block copolymers have been synthesized through the sequential addition of monomers or chain extension. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.