Communications to the Editor living radical polymerization with nitrogen catalyst: Reversible chain transfer catalyzed polymerization with N-iodosuccinimide

A new family of living radical polymerization (LRP), in which Ge (germanium), Sn (tin), or P (phosphorus) compound to the iodide-mediated polymerization was investigated. The common compound N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) works as a highly efficient works as a highly efficient catalyst for RTCP (reversible chain transfer polymerization). The polymerization of St at 100°C, using 1-phenylethyl iodide as a low-mass alkyl iodide, NIS as a catalyst and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as a conventional radical initiator was done. The polymerization rate was approximately constant in the studied time range. The number-average molecular weight M_n, linearly increased with conversion and well agreed with the theoretical value M_{n, theo}. The small amount of NIS required to control the polydispersity suggests a high reactivity of NIS. The good controllability, good tolerance to functional groups may be great advantages for this polymerization to serve as a useful synthetic tool for well-defined polymers.