Photochemically mediated atom transfer radical polymerization using polymeric semiconductor mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride

Photochemically mediated atom transfer radical polymerization of vinyl monomers is successfully activated by ecofriendly heterogeneous mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-C₃N₄). This method pertains to the use of mpg-C₃N₄ as photoactivator for reduction of initially loaded copper(II) species, thus promoting the in situ formation of the copper(I) species. The controlled nature of the polymerizations in both natural sunlight and UV-light irradiation at ambient temperature is confirmed by the good agreement of the kinetics of the polymerization with theoretical values. The light on-off experiments demonstrate that polymerizations are clearly initiated and moderated by either UV light or sunlight. Photochemically mediated atom transfer radical polymerization of vinyl monomers is successfully activated by eco-friendly heterogeneous mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-C³N⁴) under UV light or sunlight. The light on-off experiments demonstrate that polymerizations are clearly initiated by mpg-C ³N⁴, copper(II) bromide, and ethyl-alpha-bromoisobutyrate as photoactivator, catalyst, and initiator, respectively, which produces well-defined polymers in a controlled manner.