The organometallic-mediated radical polymerization (OMRP) of vinyl acetate (VAc) and its OMR copolymerization (OMRcoP) with tert-butyl 2-trifluoromethylacrylate (MAF-TBE) mediated by Co(SAL)₂ (SAL = 2-formylphenolato or deprotonated salicylaldehyde) produced relatively well-defined PVAc and poly(VAc-alt-MAF-TBE) copolymers at moderate temperature (<40 °C) in bulk. The resulting alternating copolymer was characterized by ¹H-, 13C- and 19F-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies, and by size exclusion chromatography. The linear first-order kinetic plot, the linear evolutions of the molar mass with total monomer conversion, and the relatively low dispersity (Đ~1.55) of the resulting copolymers suggest that this cobalt complex provides some degree of control over the copolymerization of VAc and MAF-TBE. Compared to the previously investigated cobalt complex OMRP mediators having a fully oxygen-based first coordination sphere, this study emphasizes a few peculiarities of Co(SAL)₂: a lower ability to trap radical chains as compared to Co(acac)₂ and the absence of catalytic chain transfer reactions, which dominates polymerizations carried in the presence of 9-oxyphenalenone cobalt derivative.
Keywords: alternating copolymers; cobalt complex; fluoropolymer; organometallic mediated radical polymerization; poly(vinyl acetate).