'Living'-chain radical polymerisation

Abstract

The review is devoted to various types of compounds used as agents for 'living' radical polymerisation, such as alkoxyamines formed upon addition of the chain carrier radicals, R^•, to stable nitroxyl radicals, as well as products of the addition of the radicals to transition metal complexes with different ligands, etc. In all cases, the mechanism of the action of these agents consists in their reversible dissociation A⇄R^• + X^•, where X^• is a stable free radical or a metal-containing complex which can accept radicals R^• (R^• + X^•→A) and thus compete with the quadratic chain termination. Particular attention is paid to the studies which allowed a quantitative formulation of the mechanism of 'living' radical polymerisation in the form of a mathematical model suitable for predicting both the parameters of the polymerisation and the properties of the resulting polymer (molecular mass and polydispersity). The bibliography includes 359 references.