Active, effective, and “green” iron(iii)/polar solvent catalysts for AGET ATRP of methyl methacrylate with various morphologies of elemental silver as a reducing agent

Abstract

Different morphologies of elemental silver were employed as the reducing agent and polar solvents were used as both the solvent and ligand for the iron-catalyzed activators generated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (AGET ATRP) of methyl methacrylate. The polymerizations showed a high reaction rate and good control when silver nanowires with high surface area were used. The iron-catalyzed polymerizations of MMA were also processed at room temperature or even at 0 °C. Additionally, silver can act as a supplemental activator in the generation of radicals from the initiator, ethyl 2-bromo-2-phenylacetate, which may be the non-negligible reason for the deviated molecular weights.