Thermosetting compositions containing hydroxyl-functional polymers prepared using atom transfer radical polymerization

A liquid thermosetting composition comprising:

• (a) a crosslinking agent having at least two functional groups that are reactive with hydroxyl groups;
• and
• (b) a non-gelled, hydroxyl functional nonrandom copolymer prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization, in the presence of an initiator having at least one radically transferable group, and wherein the polymer contains at least one of the following polymer chain structures:
• Φ—[{—(M)p—(G)q}x—(M)r—T]z
• or
• Φ—[{—(G)q—(M)p}x—(G)s—T]z
• wherein M is a residue, that is free of hydroxyl functionality, of at least one ethylenically unsaturated radically polymerizable monomer;
• G is a residue, that has hydroxyl functionality, of at least one ethylenically unsaturated radically polymerizable monomer;
• Φ is a residue from the initiator, free from the radically transferable group, selected from the group consisting of sulfonyl compounds, diethyl 2-halo-2-methylmalonates and mixtures thereof;
• T is or is derived from the radically transferable group and is selected from the group consisting of halides and a dehalogenation reaction product of a limited radically polymerizable ethylenically unsaturated compound;
• p and q represent average numbers of residues occurring in a block of residues in each polymer chain structure;
• x represents the number of radically transferable groups, r and a are each independently in the range of 1 to 100;
• x is in the range of at least 1 to 100;
• p and q are each independently within the values of 1 to 100 for each x segment;
• z is at least 1;
• and the hydroxyl functional polymer has a number average molecular weight of at least 250 to 16,000 and a polydispersity index of less than 2.0.