Optimum reaction conditions for the synthesis of macromonomers via the high-temperature polymerization of acrylates

Macromonomers are valuable synthetic building blocks: They can be copolymerized with low molecular weight monomers to generate brush-like structures or serve as conjugation substrates in pericylic, metathesis, and thiolene reactions. Based on earlier reports on the facile high temperature formation of macromonomers from acrylates, a complex kinetic model is developed which accounts for the key reactions constituting the macromonomer formation process. On the basis of the kinetic model, the important rate coefficients governing acrylate polymerization (e.g., β-scission and termination rate coefficients of midchain radicals, backbiting and intramolecular chain transfer rate coefficients) as well as the reaction conditions (e.g., initial monomer concentration, reaction temperature, radical flux) are systematically varied and their influence on the synthetic success is critically evaluated. The systematic coefficient variation reveals that there exist optimum reaction conditions under which the high temperature macromonomers formation may be conducted with maximum success. The present study provides a concise summary of these conditions.