We report here our successful attempt to obtain self-healing supramolecular hydrogels with new metal-containing monomers (MCMs) with pendent 4-phenyl-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine metal complexes as reversible moieties by free radical copolymerization of MCMs with vinyl monomers, such as acrylic acid and acrylamide. The resulting metal-polymer hydrogels demonstrate a developed system of hydrogen, coordination and electron-complementary π–π stacking interactions, which play a critical role in achieving self-healing. Kinetic data show that the addition of a third metal-containing comonomer to the system decreases the initial polymerization rate, which is due to the specific effect of the metal group located in close proximity of the active center on the growth of radicals.

The kinetic and molecular weight characteristics of the copolymers of n-butyl acrylate and styrene (95: 5 wt.%) obtained by the method of radical polymerization with reversible chain transfer were studied. The dependence of the refractive index on the molecular weight of the copolymers of n-butyl acrylate and styrene is shown.