Biomedical Engineering Reference
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of the selected monomer. Reactivity of alkyl halides follows the order of
3° > 2° > 1°, in agreement with the bond dissociation energy needed for homo-
lytic bond cleavage. Also, radical stabilization is enhanced by the presence of a
ʱ -cyano group which is more activating than either a ʱ -phenyl or ester group.
Ethyl ʱ -bromophenylacetate, which combines the activation effect of both benzyl
and ester species, is the most active initiator and is >10,000 times more reactive
than 1-phenylethyl bromide (PEBr) and >100,000 times more active than methyl
2-bromopropionate (MBrP). The reactivity of alkyl halides follow the order
I > Br > Cl and is higher than that of alkyl pseudohalides [ 42 ].
In ATRP, the dynamics of the exchange reactions may be even more impor-
tant than the overall values of the equilibrium constants. Radicals must be very
quickly deactivated, and the value of k deact should be as large as possible. This
requires very rapid rearrangement of the catalyst complex from the L/Cu(II)-X
to L/Cu(I) species, resulting from minimal reorganization of the complex, as
accomplished with branched tetrapodal ligands. Figure 3 a, b [ 31 , 45 ] show the
correlation of k act and k deact with K ATRP for various Cu I Br/ligand complexes with
a standard alkyl halide, ethyl 2-bromoisobutyrate (EtBriB), and for various ini-
tiators in the presence of a Cu I /TPMA at 22 °C in MeCN. The equilibrium con-
stants increase as a consequence of a large increase in k act accompanied by a
small decrease in k deact . The ideal catalyst for ATRP of less reactive monomers,
or when used at lower concentrations, should have a large value for K ATRP (i.e.,
larger k act ) but also preserve a very large value for k deact . The values of equilib-
rium and rate constants in ATRP scale very well with the electrochemical activ-
ity of the complexes, as shown in Fig. 4 [ 31 , 46 ]. A complex with a 300 mV
more negative redox potential is ca. 100,000 times more reactive than the less
reducing catalyst complex.
Fig. 3 a Ligands: 1 Cyclam-B, 2 Me6TREN, 3 TPMA, 4 BPED, 5 TPEDA, 6 PMDETA, 7
BPMPA, 8 dNbpy, 9 HMTETA, 10 bpy, 11 N4[3,2,3], 12 N4[2,3,2]. b Initiators: 1 MClAc, 2
BzCl, 3 PECl, 4 MClP, 5 EtCliB, 6 BzBr, 7 ClAN, 8 PEBr, 9 MBrP, 10 ClPN, 11 EtBriB, 12
BrPN, 13 EBPA. Reprinted with permission from American Chemical Society [ 45 ]
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