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Interconvertible and switchable cationic/PET-RAFT copolymerization triggered by visible light

Polymer Journal volume 52, pages 65–73 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

In this work, photoswitchable and interconvertible cationic/radical copolymerization was investigated by combining a Lewis acid-catalyzed cationic polymerization with a photoinduced electron/energy transfer (PET)-reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization, in which the dormant terminal group of the RAFT polymerization was employed as the dual mediator for cationic and photoradical polymerizations. The photoredox catalyst, a zinc porphyrin complex (ZnTPP), was tested with a series of Lewis acids. When coupled with a boron-based Lewis acid, B(C6F5)3, the concurrent and interconvertible cationic/radical copolymerization of vinyl ether and methyl acrylate successfully proceeded in a controlled manner under visible light irradiation, in which the ratio of the generation of cationic and radical species was controlled by irradiation with different wavelengths of visible light.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the JSPS Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research (B)) Grant Number JP18KK0158 (KS) and JSPS KAKENHI (Scientific Research (A)) Grant Number JP19H00910 (KS). JX acknowledges the Australian Research Council (ARC) for the Future Fellowship (FT160100095). JX, CB, KS, and MK acknowledge Venture Business Laboratory-Nagoya University for financial support from the visiting program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan

    Kotaro Satoh

  2. Department of Molecular and Macromolecular Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Kotaro Satoh, Zhihong Sun, Mineto Uchiyama & Masami Kamigaito

  3. Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Jiangtao Xu & Cyrille Boyer

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  1. Kotaro Satoh
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Correspondence to Kotaro Satoh.

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Satoh, K., Sun, Z., Uchiyama, M. et al. Interconvertible and switchable cationic/PET-RAFT copolymerization triggered by visible light. Polym J 52, 65–73 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-019-0257-5

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