Photo-Induced atom transfer radical polymerization with nanosized α-Fe2O3 as photoinitiator

Photo-induced atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was achieved in poly(ethylene glycol)-400 with nanosized α-Fe 2 O 3 as photoinitiator. Well-defined poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was synthesized in conjunction with ethyl 2-bromoisobutyrate (EBiB) as ATRP initiator and FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O/Triphenylphosphine (PPh 3 ) as complex catalyst. The photo-induced polymerization of MMA proceeded in a controlled/living fashion. The polymerization followed first-order kinetics. The obtained PMMA had moderately controlled number-average molecular weights in accordance with the theoretical number-average molecular weights, as well as narrow molecular weight distributions ( M w / M n ). In addition, the polymerization could be well controlled by periodic light-on–off processes. The resulting PMMA was characterized by 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance and gel permeation chromatography. The brominated PMMA was used further as macroinitiator in the chain-extension with MMA to verify the living nature of photo-induced ATRP of MMA. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132 , 42389.