Visible Light-Regulated Ring-Opening Polymerization of Lactones by Employing Indigo as a Photoacid Catalyst

Pan Sun; Zixuan Li; Xun Zhang; Yun Liao; Saihu Liao

doi:10.1002/marc.202400054

Visible Light-Regulated Ring-Opening Polymerization of Lactones by Employing Indigo as a Photoacid Catalyst

Macromol Rapid Commun. 2024 Mar 12:e2400054. doi: 10.1002/marc.202400054. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Pan Sun¹, Zixuan Li¹, Xun Zhang², Yun Liao¹, Saihu Liao^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Molecule Synthesis and Function Discovery (Fujian Province University), College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China.
² Department State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lingling Lu, Shanghai, 200032, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.

PMID: 38471494
DOI: 10.1002/marc.202400054

Abstract

The development of visible light-regulated polymerizations for precision synthesis of polymers has drawn considerable attention in the past years. In this study, an ancient dye, indigo, is successfully identified as a new and efficient photoacid catalyst, which can readily promote the ring-opening polymerization of lactones under visible light irradiation in a well-controlled manner, affording the desired polyester products with predictable molecular weights and narrow dispersity. The enhanced acidity of indigos by excitation is crucial to the H-bonding activation of the lactone monomers. Chain extension and block copolymer synthesis are also demonstrated with this method.

Keywords: indigo; photoacid; photopolymerization; ring-opening polymerization; visible light.

Abstract

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