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Visible light-induced living/controlled cationic ring-opening polymerization of lactones

Polymer Journal volume 52, pages 1323–1331 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ring-opening polymerization of lactones has served as one of the most resourceful and versatile methods for the production of polyesters. However, the photocontrolled ring-opening polymerization of lactones with the advantages of being inexpensive, green, and noninvasive, is still rarely reported. In this work, we developed a series of composite photoacid generators containing a common photocatalyst and an onium salt to induce the living/controlled cationic ring-opening polymerization of lactones using benzyl alcohol or butyl alcohol as an initiator under visible light. The wavelength of the light could be easily adjustable by applying different photocatalysts. Moreover, radical species are generated concurrently during the electron transfer processes; as a result, simultaneous living/controlled cationic ring-opening polymerization of lactones and reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer radical (RAFT) polymerization can be performed using hydroxy group capped trithiocarbonate to produce hybrid block copolymers.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars (51625305) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51273187, 21474097, and 21801234).

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  1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Lei Xia, Ze Zhang & Ye-Zi You

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Correspondence to Ye-Zi You.

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Xia, L., Zhang, Z. & You, YZ. Visible light-induced living/controlled cationic ring-opening polymerization of lactones. Polym J 52, 1323–1331 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-020-0394-x

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