Abstract
The living polymerization of acrylic monomers by a repeated silyl Michael addition reaction (GTP)a operates at temperatures as high as 100° C. The resulting polymers are, however, nearly identical to those produced by anionic polymerization at low temperatures. Is GTP merely a special form of anionic polymerization? A proposal is made that GTP catalyzed by weak nucleophiles proceeds by insertion of monomer in silylated chain ends and that GTP catalyzed by strong nucleophiles proceeds by reversible generation of free enolate.

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