Red-Light-Induced, Copper-Catalyzed Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization
Sajjad Dadashi‐Silab, Khidong Kim, Francesca Lorandi, Grzegorz Szczepaniak, Stephanie N. Kramer, Linda A. Peteanu, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
Abstract
Despite advances in photochemical atom transfer radical polymerization (photoATRP), these systems often rely on the use of UV light for the activation/generation of the copper-based catalytic species. To circumvent the problems associated with the UV light, we developed a dual photoredox catalytic system to mediate photoinduced ATRP under red-light irradiation. The catalytic system is comprised of a Cu catalyst to control the polymerization via ATRP equilibrium and a photocatalyst, such as zinc(II) tetraphenylporphine or zinc(II) phthalocyanine, to generate the activator CuI species under red-light irradiation. In addition, this system showed oxygen tolerance due to the consumption of oxygen in the photoredox reactions, yielding well-controlled polymerizations without the need for deoxygenation processes.