I. Değirmenci

Radical polymerization processes occur through a complex network of many different reactions. It is well-known that the polymerization rate is directly related to the monomer structure. The experimental polymerizability behavior is expressed as kp/kt1/2, where kp is the rate coefficient of propagation and kt is the rate coefficient of termination. In this study, the reactivity of a series of acrylates and methacrylates is modeled in order to understand the effect of the pendant group size, the polarity of a pendant group, and the nature of the pendant group (linear vs cyclic) on their polymerizability. The geometries and frequencies are calculated with the B3LYP/6-31+G(d) methodology whereas the energetics and kinetics of these monomers have been studied using the two-component BMK/6-311+G(3df,2p)//B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level of theory. For rotations about forming/breaking bonds in the transition state, an uncoupled scheme for internal rotations has been applied with potentials determined at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level. Generally the rate constants for propagation kp mimic the qualitative polymerization trend of the monomers modeled and can be used with confidence in predicting the polymerizability behavior of acrylates. However in the case of 2-dimethylaminoethyl acrylate, chain transfer is found to play a major role in inhibiting the polymerization. On the other hand, the disproportionation reaction turns out to be too slow to be taken into consideration as a termination reaction.

In this study, the effect of alcohols as solvents on the kinetics and the tacticity of poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is investigated with a combined static and molecular dynamics set of computational tools. Classical molecular dynamics calculations have been carried out to determine the location of the solvent molecules in the proximity of the monomer and the dimer. A combined implicit/explicit solvent model was used for the evaluation of the kinetics of the dimeric polymer chains. Rate constants are calculated with the B3LYP/6-311 + G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31 + G(d), BMK/6-311 + G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31 + G(d), and MPWB1K/6-311 + G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31 + G(d) methodologies via the standard transition state theory. We show that due to the proximity of the –NH and carbonyl groups on the syndiotactic propagating dimeric and trimeric chains, the alcohol can stabilize the corresponding transition states by forming a bridge between these functionalities and accelerate this path more than its isotactic counterpart. In agreement with experiment, the increase in the syndiotactic PNIPAM and the acceleration of the reaction in the presence of t-BuOH is predicted with all the DFT functionals utilized in this study.