Methylaluminoxane as a Reducing Agent for Activators Generated by Electron Transfer ATRP

Activators generated by electron transfer (AGET) atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of n‐butyl acrylate (nBA) was carried out in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO) as a new reducing agent for Cu(II) complexes. The molecular weights of the produced poly(nBA) increased with nBA conversions with low polydispersities (∼1.2) and they were close to the theoretical values. The polymerization proceeded successfully using five‐fold excess of MAO over Cu(II) complex. UV‐VIS measurements confirmed that MAO reduced the Cu(II) complex. When the mixture of MAO was monitored by UV‐VIS spectroscopy, a decrease of the peak absorbing at 950 nm attributed to CuCl₂/tri(2‐pyridylmethyl)amine (TPMA) complex in N, N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) at room temperature was observed as soon as MAO was added.

Keywords:

• ATRP
• reducing agents
• MAO
• AGET

5 Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Science Foundation (DMR‐05‐49353), Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., and the members of the CRP Consortium at Carnegie Mellon University for their financial support.