Kinetics of cap separation in nitroxide-regulated "living" free radical polymerization: Application of a novel methodology involving a prefluorescent nitroxide switch

A novel approach employing a prefluoreseent paramagnetic sensor has been employed to determine the absolute kinetics for end-cap cleavage in TEMPO-capped polystyrene obtained by "living" free radical polymerization. This new methodology takes advantage of the suppression of coumarin fluorescence when this chromophore is tethered to a paramagnetic nitroxide. This coumarin-nitroxide is an excellent free radical trap for carbon-centered radicals; upon radical trapping, the. resulting diamagnetic alkoxyamine is strongly fluorescent. Thus, fluorescence buildup is a direct measure of free radical formation and can be employed to quantify their formation or to study their kinetics. Studies of the temperature dependence of the process can be employed to determine activation parameters and bond dissociation energies. This simple technique can be employed to study the dynamics in the actual polymer systems, overcoming the frequent need to resort to model compounds.