Amide group-containing polar solvents as ligands for iron-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate

Abstract

A series of amide group-containing polar solvents, formamide (Fo), N-methylformamide (MFo), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), acetamide (Ac), N-methylacetamide (MAc), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), urea, tetramethyl urea (TMU), 2-pyrrolidone (2-Py), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and 5-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (MPy), were used as both solvents and ligands for iron(II)-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerizations (ATRPs) of methyl methacrylate (MMA), with ethyl 2-bromo-2-phenylacetate (EBPA) as the initiator. Most of the polymerizations were well-controlled in character, and the structures of the polar solvents greatly affected the catalytic activity. In addition, the living features of the systems remained in the presence of limited amounts of polar solvents. Some of the polar solvents (MFo, TMU and 2-Py) were also employed for iron(III)-catalyzed activators generated by electron transfer (AGET) ATRPs of MMA, and the results were as good as those of the ATRPs.