Conjugated cross-linked phosphine as broadband light or sunlight-driven photocatalyst for large-scale atom transfer radical polymerization

作者：Fang, Wei-Wei; Yang, Gui-Yu; Fan, Zi-Hui; Chen, Zi-Chao; Hu, Xun-Liang; Zhan, Zhen; Hussain, Irshad; Lu, Yang; He, Tao^*; Tan, Bi-En^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2023, 14(1): 2891.

DOI：10.1038/s41467-023-38402-y

The use of light to regulate photocatalyzed reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) under mild conditions, especially driven by broadband light or sunlight directly, is highly desired. But the development of a suitable photocatalyzed polymerization system for large-scale production of polymers, especially block copolymers, has remained a big challenge. Herein, we report the development of a phosphine-based conjugated hypercrosslinked polymer (PPh3-CHCP) photocatalyst for an efficient large-scale photoinduced copper-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization (Cu-ATRP). Monomers including acrylates and methyl acrylates can achieve near-quantitative conversions under a wide range (450-940 nm) of radiations or sunlight directly. The photocatalyst could be easily recycled and reused. The sunlight-driven Cu-ATRP allowed the synthesis of homopolymers at 200 mL from various monomers, and monomer conversions approached 99% in clouds intermittency with good control over polydispersity. In addition, block copolymers at 400 mL scale can also be obtained, which demonstrates its great potential for industrial applications. @@@ The application for large-scale production of polymers using photocatalyzed reversible deactivation radical polymerization remains challenging. Here, the authors report the development of a phosphine-based conjugated hypercrosslinked polymer as photocatalyst for an efficient photoinduced and oxygen tolerant copper-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization.

• 单位
  华中科技大学