Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Dissociative electron transfer to activated alkyl halide initiators relevant to living radical polymerization

The mechanism of reductive cleavage of model alkyl halides (methyl 2-bromoisobutyrate, methyl 2-bromopropionate and 1-bromo-1-chloroethane), used as initiators in living radical polymerization (LRP), has been investigated in acetonitrile using both experimental and computational methods. Both theoretical and experimental investigations have revealed that dissociative electron transfer to these alkyl halides proceeds exclusively via concerted rather than stepwise manner. The reductive cleavage of all three alkyl halides requires a substantial activation barrier stemming mainly from the breaking C-X bond. The activation step during single electron transfer LRP (SET-LRP) was originally proposed to proceed via formation and decomposition of RX\u2022- through an outer sphere electron transfer (OSET) process. These radical anion intermediates were proposed to decompose via heterolytic rather than homolytic C\u2013X bond dissociation. Here it is clearly shown that injection of one electron into RX produces only a weakly associated charge induced donor acceptor type radical anion complex without any significant covalent sigma-type bond character between carbon-centered radical and associated anion leaving group. Therefore, neither homolytic nor heterolytic bond dissociation applies to the reductive cleavage of C-X in these alkyl halides inasmuch as a true radical anion does not form in the process. In addition, the whole mechanism of SET-LRP has to be revisited. The comparison of the experimental activation free energies with theoretically computed values shows a close agreement between theory and experiment. The agreement with experimental data, which fit very well the sticky model, is a relevant support for the appropriateness of this simplified model, which considers only the ion-dipole interactions

Ultrafast synthesis of ultrahigh molar mass polymers by metal-catalyzed living radical polymerization of acrylates, methacrylates, and vinyl chloride mediated by SET at 25 degrees C

Conventional metal-catalyzed organic radical reactions and living radical polymerizations (LRP) performed in nonpolar solvents, including atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), proceed by an innersphere electron-transfer mechanism. One catalytic system frequently used in these polymerizations is based on Cu(I)X species and N-containing ligands. Here, it is reported that polar solvents such as H2O, alcohols, dipolar aprotic solvents, ethylene and propylene carbonate, and ionic liquids instantaneously disproportionate Cu(I)X into Cu(0) and Cu(II)X-2 species in the presence of a diversity of N-containing ligands. This disproportionation facilitates an ultrafast LRP in which the free radicals are generated by the nascent and extremely reactive Cu(0) atomic species, while their deactivation is mediated by the nascent Cu(II)X-2 species. Both steps proceed by a low activation energy outer-sphere single-electron-transfer (SET) mechanism. The resulting SET-LRP process is activated by a catalytic amount of the electron-donor Cu(0), Cu2Se, Cu2Te, Cu2S, or Cu2O species, not by Cu(I) X. This process provides, at room temperature and below, an ultrafast synthesis of ultrahigh molecular weight polymers from functional monomers containing electronwithdrawing groups such as acrylates, methacrylates, and vinyl chloride, initiated with alkyl halides, sulfonyl halides, and N-halides

The First Intramolecular Silene Diels-Alder Reactions

The synthesis of silaheterocycles through the first examples of an intramolecular silene Diels–Alder reaction is described

Mechanism of supplemental activator and reducing agent atom transfer radical polymerization mediated by inorganic sulfites: Experimental measurements and kinetic simulations

The mechanism of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) mediated by sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4), with CuIIBr2/Me6TREN as catalyst (Me6TREN: tris[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]amine) in ethanol/water mixtures, was investigated experimentally and by kinetic simulations. A kinetic model was proposed and the rate coefficients of the relevant reactions were measured. The kinetic model was validated by the agreement between experimental and simulated results. The results indicated that the polymerization followed the SARA ATRP mechanism, with a SO2- radical anion derived from Na2S2O4, acting as both supplemental activator (SA) of alkyl halides and reducing agent (RA) for CuII/L to regenerate the main activator CuI/L. This is similar to the reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) procedure conducted in the presence of Cu0. The electron transfer from SO2-, to either CuIIBr2/Me6TREN or R-Br initiator, appears to follow an outer sphere electron transfer (OSET) process. The developed kinetic model was used to study the influence of targeted degree of polymerization, concentration of CuIIBr2/Me6TREN and solubility of Na2S2O4 on the level of polymerization control. The presence of small amounts of water in the polymerization mixtures slightly increased the reactivity of the CuI/L complex, but markedly increased the reactivity of sulfites