Simplified Electrochemically Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization using a Sacrificial Anode

Simplification of electrochemically mediated atom transfer radical polymerization was achieved efficiently under either potentiostatic or galvanostatic conditions using an aluminum wire sacrificial anode (seATRP) immersed directly into the reaction flask without separating the counter electrode. seATRP polymerizations were carried out under different applied potentials, E(app)s=E-1/2, E-pc, E-pc -40mV, and E-pc -80mV. As the rate of polymerization (R-p) can be modulated by applying different E-app potentials, more reducing conditions resulted in faster R-p. The polymerization results showed similar narrow molecular-weight distribution throughout the reactions, similar to results observed for n-butyl acrylate (BA) polymerization under conventional eATRP. High-molecular-weight PBA and diblock copolymers were synthesized by seATRP with more than 90% monomer conversion. Furthermore, galvanostatic conditions were developed for synthesizing PBA with the two-electrode system.