Aqueous RAFT at pH zero: enabling controlled polymerization of unprotected acyl hydrazide methacrylamides

Abstract

We report aqueous RAFT polymerization at pH = 0 mediated by a novel imidazolium-containing chain transfer agent. In 1 M HCl, unprecedented controlled polymerization and chain-extension of unprotected acyl hydrazide methacrylamides is achieved enabling the synthesis of well-defined acyl hydrazide functionalized polymer scaffolds of interest for dynamic covalent and bioconjugation strategies.