PET-RAFT polymerisation: towards green and precision polymer manufacturing

Abstract

Photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) process has opened up a new way of precision polymer manufacturing to satisfy the concept of green chemistry.

Abstract

The necessity of sustainable development in the chemical industry has continuously drawn attention to find safe, environmentally friendly and atom-economic chemical processes, which is defined in the 12 principles of green chemistry. Merging photoredox catalysis and reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerisation, the photoinduced electron/energy transfer (PET)-RAFT process has opened up a new way of performing reversible deactivation radical polymerisation for well-defined polymer synthesis using light as an external stimulus. While providing an increased level of control (spatiotemporal, wavelength, and intensity control) over the polymerisation, PET-RAFT has many attractive attributes (abundant catalyst availability, catalyst recyclability, selectivity and oxygen tolerance) to be green and sustainable, which is intriguing for precision polymer manufacturing in industry.