Fe-mediated ICAR ATRP of methyl methacrylate on photoinduced miniemulsion polymerization

The initiators for continuous activator regeneration (ICAR) atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) were investigated in microemulsion under light irradiation with ethyl 2-bromoisbutyrate (EBiB) as an ATRP initiator, ferric chloride hexahydrate (FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O) as a catalyst, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-1,2-ethanediamine (TMEDA) as a ligand, and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator and reducing agent. The linear dependence of ln([M] 0 /[M]) on polymerization time was observed, indicating that the polymerization was living polymerization. Furthermore, the number-average molecular weights (Mn), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and molecular weight distributions (MWD) of the PMMA obtained from GPC were controlled. The product was characterized by 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and GPC. The living features were verified by chain-extended with MMA with the obtained PMMA as macroinitiator.