Novel organocobalt for the synthesis of functional polymers

Organocobalt(III) with acetylacetonate (acac) ligands is the most representative example of R-Co bearing a labile C-Co bond that can release alkyl radicals under mild experimental conditions without requiring a photoactivation. The unique isolated R-Co is a short oligo(vinyl acetate) end-capped by Co(acac)2. The high lability of its C-Co bond combined to the unique capacity of Co(acac)2 to reversibly trap alkyl radicals make this R-Co unique for the precision design of unprecedented polymers by Cobalt-Mediated Radical Polymerization (CMRP). The growth of unstabilized and highly reactive growing radicals formed by the addition of R• to unconjugated vinyl monomers (vinyl esters, vinyl amides, vinyl imidazolium, vinyl chloride, etc;) is controlled by the reversible formation of a weak C-Co bond at the polymer chain end. The lack of alternatives to this R-Co, especially to the structure of the alkyl group, has however placed limitations on post-functionalizations of end-chains. Other functional variants that would enable attractive chain-end derivatizations are unfortunately not available.

In this poster, we will address this important challenge by describing an innovative synthetic route towards the preparation of new functional R-Co(acac)2 that are sources of halomethyl radicals under mild experimental conditions. The efficiency of these novel organocobalt complexes for the precision synthesis of end-functional and telechelic polymers will be described. Also, the solubility of these complexes in water enables the facile production of end-functionalized water soluble poly(ionic liquid)s. Further derivatizations of the halomethyl group at the chain-end of polymers produced by this system will be demonstrated by click reaction, largely broadening the range of possible functional groups. Finally, besides numerous applications in macromolecular engineering, this unexplored family of R-Co presents a high potential in radical reactions in organic synthesis by the facile production of halomethyl radicals.