One‐Pot Synthesis of Poly(acrylate)‐<i>graft‐</i>polylactide

Abstract A tripodal mono(phenolate) iron complex, in the presence of an excess of alcohol (up to 80 equiv vs. Fe), serves as a highly active and stereoselective catalyst for rac ‐lactide polymerization. This efficient system allows large quantities of polymer to be produced with small amounts of catalyst, thereby optimizing productivity. It also facilitates the formation of polylactide with functional end groups, which act as intermediates. Each chain can then be functionalized in the presence of (meth)acrylic acid, providing direct access to graft copolymers by the polymerization of the resulting (meth)acrylates. In this study, we present a practical route to poly(meth)acrylate‐ g ‐polylactide graft copolymers and demonstrate that this process can be carried out in high yields via a one‐pot reaction.