Visible‐Light‐Mediated Controlled Radical Branching Polymerization in Water
Kriti Kapil, Grzegorz Szczepaniak, Michael R. Martinez, Hironobu Murata, Arman Moini Jazani, Jaepil Jeong, Subha R. Das, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
Abstract
Abstract Hyperbranched polymethacrylates were synthesized by green‐light‐induced atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) under biologically relevant conditions in the open air. Sodium 2‐bromoacrylate (SBA) was prepared in situ from commercially available 2‐bromoacrylic acid and used as a water‐soluble inibramer to induce branching during the copolymerization of methacrylate monomers. As a result, well‐defined branched polymethacrylates were obtained in less than 30 min with predetermined molecular weights (36 000< M n <170 000), tunable degree of branching, and low dispersity values (1.14≤ Đ ≤1.33). Moreover, the use of SBA inibramer enabled the synthesis of bioconjugates with a well‐controlled branched architecture.