METALS GET THE BOOT IN NEW RADICAL POLYMERIZATION METHOD

摘要

Metal catalysts are the norm when it comes to atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), a common method for creating functionalized polymers with well-defined structure and architecture. But the presence of residual metal is a barrier to the use of these polymers in applications such as microelectronics and biomaterials. Researchers led by Craig Hawker and Brett Fors in collaboration with the Dow Chemical Company set out to tackle this issue by removing metals from the equation entirely, and they now report the first metal-free catalyst system for ATRP (DOI: 10.1021/ja510389m).