Radical-promoted single-unit monomer insertion (SUMI) [aka. reversible-deactivation radical addition (RDRA)]
Cyrille Boyer, Masami Kamigaito, Kotaro Satoh, Graeme Moad
Abstract
We survey progress in the development of the processes for radical-promoted single-unit monomer insertion (SUMI) or reversible deactivation radical addition (RDRA), focussing on aminoxyl- [nitroxide-] mediated SUMI (NM-SUMI), reversible-addition-fragmentation chain transfer-SUMI (RAFT-SUMI) and atom-transfer radical addition (ATRA). Radical-promoted thiol-ene processes are also briefly discussed. We detail the strategies for achieving selectivity with respect to single unit insertion vs oligomerization and look critically at progress towards discrete oligomer synthesis by consecutive SUMI reactions. We examine the use of SUMI to install α-, ω- or mid-chain-functionality in RDRP-synthesized polymers. Finally, we examine the prospects for using radical-promoted SUMI in the synthesis of sequence-defined polymers where monomer placement is precisely defined to the level of the individual monomer units in the polymer chain.