Synthesis of Functional Polymers by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) provides an efficient way to conduct controlled/'living' radical polymerizations. The resulting polymers have predefined molecular weights and the molecular weight distributions are narrow. In addition, ATRP is particularly suitable for the preparation of well-defined polymers with side and chain-end functional groups. A large variety of monomers were polymerized using numerous halogenated initiators and macroinitiators containing hydroxy, amido, ester, epoxy, cyano, etc. groups. The chain-end halogen groups were converted to other functional groups such as azido and aminogroups.