Polyethersulfones are an interesting class of polymers for industrial applications due to their unusual properties such as a high refractive index, flame-retardant properties, high temperature and chemical resistance. The common...
The large variety of available functional groups, their versatility, and the various polymerization technique have made vinyl monomers the prevalent source for preparation of polymers. Interestingly, among this wide variety...
In contrast to common more activated monomers (MAMs), such as (meth)acrylates or styrenes, vinyl thioethers remain a niche, despite their unique character featuring an electron rich vinyl moiety, which in...
The reversible addition‐fragmentation chain‐transfer (RAFT) process has become a versatile tool for the preparation of defined polymers tolerating a large variety of functional groups. Several dithioesters, trithiocarbonates, xanthates, or dithiocarbamates have been developed as effective chain transfer agents (CTAs), but only a few examples have been reported, where the resulting end groups are directly considered for a secondary use besides controlling the polymerization. Herein, it is demonstrated that β‐hydroxy dithiocinnamic esters represent a hitherto overlooked class of materials, which are originally designed for the complexation of transition metals but may as well act as reversible CTAs. Modified with a suitable leaving group (R‐group), these vinyl conjugated dithioesters indeed provide reasonable control over the polymerization of acrylates, acrylamides, or styrene via the RAFT process. Kinetic studies reveal linear evolutions of molar mass with conversion, while different substituents on the aromatic unit has only a minor influence. Block extensions prove the livingness of the polymer chains, although extended polymerization times may lead to side reactions. The resulting dithiocinnamic ester end groups are still able to form complexes with platinum, which verifies that the structural integrity of the end group is maintained. These findings open a versatile new route to tailor‐made polymer‐bound metal complexes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.