Modeling Spin-Forbidden Monomer Self-Initiation Reactions in Spontaneous Free-Radical Polymerization of Acrylates and Methacrylates

A spin-forbidden reaction is a reaction in which the total electronic spin-state changes. The standard transition-state theory that assumes a reaction occurs on a single potential energy surface with spin-conservation cannot be applied to a spin-forbidden reaction directly. In this work, we derive the crossing coefficient based on the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB) theory to quantify the effect of intersystem crossing on the kinetics of spin-forbidden reactions. Acrylates and methacrylates, by themselves, can generate free radicals that initiate polymerization at temperatures above 120 °C. Previous studies suggest that a triplet diradical is a key intermediate in the self-initiation. The formation of a triplet diradical from two closed-shell monomer molecules is a spin-forbidden reaction. This study provides a quantitative analysis of singlet–triplet spin crossover of diradical species in self-initiation of acrylates and methacrylates, taking into account the effect of intersystem crossing. The concept of crossing control is introduced and demonstrated computationally to be a new likely route to generate monoradicals via monomer self-initiation in high temperature polymerization.