Iron-Mediated AGET ATRP of Methyl Methacrylate in Green Polar Ethyl Lactate Solvent without any External Ligand

Abstract In this paper, ethyl lactate was used as a green solvent for iron(III)-catalyzed activators generated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerizations of methyl methacrylate in the absence of any external ligand. The effects of amount and type of solvent were investigated. Most of the systems showed the typical features of reversible deactivation radical polymerization. The polymerization of methyl methacrylate with ethyl lactate as a solvent and a ligand proceeded in a controlled manner as demonstrated by the first-order kinetic plot, low dispersity of polymers, an increase in polymer molecular weight with rise of the monomer conversion and by chain extension experiments.