Photoswitchable and interconvertible cationic/radical copolymerization was investigated by combining a Lewis acid-catalyzed cationic polymerization with a photoinduced electron/energy transfer (PET)-reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization, in which the dormant terminal group of the RAFT polymerization was employed as the dual mediator for cationic and photoradical polymerizations. Zinc porphyrin complex (ZnTPP) as the photoredox catalyst and bulky boron-based Lewis acid, B(C6F5)3, was successfully combined to induce the concurrent and interconvertible cationic/radical copolymerization of vinyl ether and methyl acrylate under visible light irradiation.
- Kotaro Satoh
- Zhihong Sun
- Cyrille Boyer
