ATRP with ppb Concentrations of Photocatalysts

In atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), dormant alkyl halides are intermittently activated to form growing radicals in the presence of a CuI/L/X-CuII/L (activator/deactivator) catalytic system. Recently developed very active copper complexes could decrease the catalyst concentration to ppm level. However, unavoidable radical termination results in irreversible oxidation of the activator to the deactivator species, leading to limited monomer conversions. Therefore, successful ATRP at a low catalyst loading requires continuous regeneration of the activators. Such a regenerative ATRP can be performed with various reducing agents under milder reaction conditions and with catalyst concentrations diminished in comparison to conventional ATRP. Photoinduced ATRP (PhotoATRP) is one of the most efficient methods of activator regeneration. It initially employed UV irradiation to reduce the air-stable excited X-CuII/L deactivators to the activators in the presence of sacrificial electron donors. Photocatalysts (PCs) can be excited after absorbing light at longer wavelengths and, due to their favorable redox potentials, can reduce X-CuII/L to CuI/L. Herein, we present the application of three commercially available xanthene dyes as ATRP PCs: rose bengal (RB), rhodamine B (RD), and rhodamine 6G (RD-6G). Even at very low Cu catalyst concentrations (50 ppm), they successfully controlled PhotoATRP. Well-defined polymers with preserved livingness were prepared under green LED irradiation, with subppm concentrations ([PC] ≥ 10 ppb) of RB and RD-6G or 5 ppm of RD. Interestingly, these PCs efficiently controlled ATRP at wavelengths longer than their absorption maxima but required higher loadings. Polymerizations proceeded with high initiation efficiencies, yielding polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions and high chain-end fidelity. UV–vis, fluorescence, and laser flash photolysis studies helped to elucidate the mechanism of the processes involved in the dual-catalytic systems, comprising parts per million of Cu complexes and parts per billion of PCs.