Ivan Piletic - McMaster University

Placement: University of Ottawa
Supervisor: Dr. Tito Scaiano

Living Free Radical Polymerization Methods

The recent success of "living systems" in free radical polymerization has been mainly attributed to the use of nitroxide radicals behaving as trapping agents. These radicals promote the living aspect by reversibly bonding with growing polymer chains thus controlling their growth. A majority of the recent success has come from the production of high molecular weight and narrow polydispersity polystyrene. Effective living free radical polymerization with acrylates is more difficult to acheive and was subject to investigation. Various nitroxyl radicals were also studied by exploring their role in living free radical polymerization.