Reversible complexation mediated polymerization (RCMP) starting with a complex of iodine with organic salt andthermal initiators

Abstract

Abstract Herein, we developed a reversible complexation mediated polymerization (RCMP) starting with a complex of iodine and organic salt as a deactivator and a thermal initiator for continuous regeneration of the organic salt activator. This novel polymerization method can be called as initiators for continuous activator regeneration (ICAR) RCMP, as inspired by the denomination of ICAR ATRP. The synthesis of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (Mw/Mn < 1.3) with good controllability was achieved via this technique when the concentration of the deactivator complex was as low as dozens of ppm. The studied three kinds of iodine complexes showed high control on the polymerization of MMA. The effects of initiator and deactivator complex concentration on the polymerization process were researched in detail. Furthermore, the accessibility of PMMA prepared by ICAR RCMP to chain extension and block copolymerization confirmed that this novel polymerization approach afforded polymers with high chain-end fidelity. The substantial decrease in the concentration of deactivator complex or activator plays a critical role for the production and application of well-defined polymer prepared by this method.