Metal-catalyzed radical polyaddition as a novel polymer synthetic route.

A new class of polymerizations was developed via metal-catalyzed C-C bond forming radical polyaddition; the monomers were designed to have a reactive C-Cl bond, which can be activated by the metal catalysts to generate a carbon radical species, along with a C=C double bond, to which the carbon radical generated from another molecule adds to form a C-C backbone polymer with an inactive C-Cl pendant.