LIVING RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF VINYL-ACETATE

The synthesis of well-defined poly(vinyl acetate) in ''living'' radica l polymerization is reported. Straight lines in semilogarithmic plots up to >90% conversion indicate internal first order in monomer and a c onstant concentration of growing species. Molecular weights increase l inearly with conversion. The initiating system might,involve persisten t radical formed by the ternary complexes of organoaluminum compounds with Lewis bases and stable radicals. This article focuses on the Al(i Bu)(3):BPy:TEMPO system. The effect of the composition of the initiati ng system and its aging is described.