Molar Mass Dispersity Control by Iodine-mediated Reversible-deactivation Radical Polymerization

Dispersity(D)of polymers has a great effect on the properties of polymeric materials,and therefore how to control D is very important but still a huge challenge in polymer synthesis,especially for reversible-deactivation radical polymerization(RDRP)strategy.Herein,we successfully developed a novel strategy to adjust D of polymers by visible light-controlled reversible complexation mediated living radical polymerization(RCMP)and combination of single-electron transfer-degenerative chain transfer living radical polymerization(SET-DTLRP)at room temperature.In RCMP system,2-iodo-2-methylpropionitrile(CP-I)and ethyl 2-iodo-2-phenylacetate(EIPA)were used as alkyl iodide initiators,by using methyl methacrylate(MMA)as the model monomer and n-butylacrylate(BA)as the end-capping reagent to regulate D of polymers.Subsequently,we successfully prepared the block copolymer PMMA-b-PBA with adjustable D by reactivating the polymer end-chains via SET-DTLRP in the presence of copper wire,fully demonstrating that it is a promising strategy that can keep the"living"feature of polymers while regulating their molar mass dispersities easily.