Challenges and Recent Developments of Photoflow-Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization (RDRP)

Photo-controlled reversible-deactivation radical polymerization(photo-RDRP) has been investigated as a "green" and spatiotemporally controlling pathway for polymer synthesis. While the combination of photo-RDRP and flow chemistry has offered opportunities to increase light intensity and enable uniform light irradiation, problems associated with flow approaches still remain for photoflow-RDRP, which has hindered merging flow polymerization with other cutting-edge techniques. Herein, we summarize challenges and recent achievements in photoflow-RDRP including the development of(a) droplet/slug-flow to regulate residence time distribution,(b) mixing techniques to tailor polymer,(c) polymerization induced self-assembly, and(d) computer-aided synthesis. We hope this work will provide informative knowledge to people in related fields and stimulate novel ideas to promote polymer synthesis in both academia and industry.