Premium
A Diarylacetonitrile as a Molecular Probe for the Detection of Polymeric Mechanoradicals in the Bulk State through a Radical Chain‐Transfer Mechanism
Author(s) -
Yamamoto Takumi,
Kato Sota,
Aoki Daisuke,
Otsuka Hideyuki
Publication year - 2021
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.202013180
Subject(s) - polymer , chain scission , polystyrene , fluorescence , radical , chain transfer , chemistry , bond cleavage , homolysis , nanotechnology , photochemistry , materials science , polymer chemistry , radical polymerization , organic chemistry , copolymer , catalysis , physics , quantum mechanics
Since the beginning of polymer science, understanding the influence of mechanical stress on polymer chains has been a fundamental and important research topic. The detection of mechanoradicals generated by homolytic cleavage of the polymer chains in solution has been studied in many cases. However, the detection of mechanoradicals in the bulk is still limited owing to their high reactivity. Herein, we propose an innovative strategy to detect mechanoradicals visually and quantitatively using a chain‐transfer agent that generates relatively stable fluorescent radicals as a molecular probe. Mechanoradicals generated by ball milling of polystyrene samples were successfully detected by using a diarylacetonitrile compound as a fluorescent molecular probe through this radical chain‐transfer mechanism. This probe enables the visualization and quantitative evaluation of mechanoradicals generated by polymer‐chain scission.