Mechanistic investigation and selectivity of the grafting onto C60 of macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization

The grafting mechanism of poly(vinyl acetate) macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization onto C60 is investigated. The experimental conditions directly impact the nature and stability of the PVAc/C60 adducts. In the presence of residual initiating radicals that can compete with PVAc° macroradicals for addition onto C60, mixtures of PVAc/C60 adducts having between one and eight polymer chains per C60 are formed. PVAc/C60 adducts prepared with low [PVAc]:[C60] ratios may contain weak C60–C60 bonds that further dissociate and account for the instability of the products. The formation of such dimers can be lessened by increasing the temperature from 30 °C to 100 °C. The temperature increase also allows a complete dissociation of the PVAc-Co dormant species into PVAc° macroradicals and an almost quantitative grafting of eight PVAc chains onto C60, leading to well-defined C60(PVAc)8 octa-adducts. These results might shed new light on the grafting onto C60 of macroradicals prepared by other CRP techniques.