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Carbon Dots as a Promising Green Photocatalyst for Free Radical and ATRP‐Based Radical Photopolymerization with Blue LEDs
Author(s) -
Kütahya Ceren,
Wang Ping,
Li Shujun,
Liu Shouxin,
Li Jian,
Chen Zhijun,
Strehmel Bernd
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201912343
Subject(s) - photopolymer , atom transfer radical polymerization , photochemistry , polymerization , radical polymerization , photocatalysis , photosensitizer , chemistry , radical , ethylene glycol , methacrylate , materials science , polymer chemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , catalysis
Carbon dots (CDs) have been used for the first time as a sensitizer to initiate and activate free radical and controlled radical polymerization, respectively, based on an ATRP protocol with blue LEDs. Consideration of diverse heteroatom‐doped CDs indicated that N‐doped CDs could serve as an effective photocatalyst and photosensitizer in combination with LEDs emitting either at 405 nm or 470 nm. Free radical polymerization was initiated by combining the CDs with an iodonium or sulfonium salt in tri(propylene glycol) diacrylate. Polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) by photo‐induced ATRP was achieved with CDs and ethyl α‐bromophenylacetate using Cu II as catalyst in the ppm range. The polymers obtained showed temporal control, narrower dispersity ≲1.5, and chain‐end fidelity. The first‐order kinetics and ON/OFF experiments additionally gave evidence of the constant concentration of polymer radicals. No remarkable cytotoxic activity was observed for the CDs, underlining their biocompatibility.