Imidazoline and imidazolidine nitroxides as controlling agents in nitroxide-mediated pseudoliving radical polymerization

Abstract : Controlled, or pseudoliving, radical polymerization provides unique opportunities for the synthesis of structurally diverse polymers with a narrow molecular -weight distribution. These reactions occur under relatively mild conditions with broad tolerance to functional groups in the monomers. The nitroxide-mediated pseudoliving radical polymerization is of particular interest for the synthesis of polymers for biomedical applications. This review briefly describes one of the mechanisms of controlled radical polymerization. The studies dealing with the use of imidazoline and imidazolidine nitroxides as controlling agents for nitroxide-mediated pseudoliving radical polymerization of various monomers are summarized and analyzed. The publications addressing the key steps of the controlled radical polymerization in the presence of imidazoline and imidazolidine nitroxides and new approaches to nitroxide-mediated polymerization based on protonation of both nitroxides a nd monomers are considered.