ATRP of styrene catalyzed by elemental Fe(0) and Br2: An easy and economical ATRP process |
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| Authors: | Huali Yu Zhengbiao Zhang Zhenping Cheng Jian Zhu Nianchen Zhou Wei Zhang Xiulin Zhu |
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| Affiliation: | Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, People's Republic of China |
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| Abstract: | In this work, zero‐valent iron (Fe(0)) (powder or wire) and elemental bromine (Br2) were used as the catalysts for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene (St) without any additional initiator at 110 °C. The polymerizations happened with controlled evidence at appropriate molar ratio of Fe(0) to Br2: a remarkable increase of molecular weights with St conversions, the narrow molecular weight distributions and living polymer chains end‐capped by Br. More Br2 or less Fe(0) led to a slow polymerization rate but an improved control over molecular weights. After examining the polymer chain ends by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry, it was concluded that the polymerization was initiated by thermal self‐initiation, and regulated by the in situ generated FeIIIBr3. The results suggested that the Fe(0)/Br2 catalyzing polymerization was a classical ATRP process with easier operation and more economical components. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012 |
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| Keywords: | atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) elemental bromine (Br2) gel permeation chromatograph (GPC) zero‐valent iron (Fe(0)) |
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