Ab Initio Evidence for Slow Fragmentation in RAFT Polymerization

Abstract

High-level ab initio molecular orbital calculations on model reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization reactions indicate that the retardation effect that is widely observed for methyl acrylate polymerization in the presence of cumyl dithiobenzoate may be attributed to the slow fragmentation of the RAFT adduct radical.