PET-RAFT Polymerization Catalyzed by Small Organic Molecule under Green Light Irradiation

Huazhen Tao; Lei Xia; Guang Chen; Tianyou Zeng; Xuan Nie; Ze Zhang; Yezi You

doi:10.3390/polym11050892

PET-RAFT Polymerization Catalyzed by Small Organic Molecule under Green Light Irradiation

Polymers (Basel). 2019 May 15;11(5):892. doi: 10.3390/polym11050892.

Authors

Huazhen Tao¹, Lei Xia², Guang Chen³, Tianyou Zeng⁴, Xuan Nie⁵, Ze Zhang⁶, Yezi You⁷

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. hzhtao@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
² Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. lxia@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
³ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. cg1995@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
⁴ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. ztyou@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
⁵ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. niexuan@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
⁶ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. zze320@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
⁷ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. yzyou@ustc.edu.cn.

Abstract

Photocatalyzed polymerization using organic molecules as catalysts has attracted broad interest because of its easy operation in ambient environments and low toxicity compared with metallic catalysts. In this work, we reported that 4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (DTBT) can act as an efficient photoredox catalyst for photoinduced electron transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization under green light irradiation. Well-defined (co)polymers can be obtained using this technique without any additional additives like noble metals and electron donors or acceptors. The living characteristics of polymerization were verified by kinetic study and the narrow dispersity (Đ) of the produced polymer. Excellent chain-end fidelity was demonstrated through chain extension as well. In addition, this technique showed great potential for various RAFT agents and monomers including acrylates and acrylamides.

Keywords: PET-RAFT polymerization; green light; organic photoredox catalyst.

Abstract

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