Synthesis of polyacrylonitrile mediated by manganese(III) acetylacetonate (Mn(acac)3) and 2-cyanoprop-2-yl dithionaphthalenoate

2-Cyanoprop-2-yl dithionaphthalenoate (CPDN) was successfully used as the chain transfer agent to prepare polyacrylonitrile in combination with manganese(III) acetylacetonate (Mn(acac) 3 ) as the initiator. The novel polymerization exhibited well “living”/controlled characteristics. The polymerization behavior was revealed to comply with features of reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization process. Mn(acac) 3 played a key role as the initiator rather than the radical trapping agent in polymerization and exhibited better control performance than azo-initiator. The narrowest molecular weight distribution was 1.31 under the condition of [AN] 0 :[Mn(acac) 3 ] 0 :[CPDN] 0 = 200:1:0.025 and AN:DMF = 1:1 (V/V). Various feed ratios of Mn(acac) 3 and CPDN were also investigated in detail. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53 , 1305–1309