Ethyl Lactate, a New Green Solvent for ARGET ATRP of Methyl Acrylate

The use of ethyl lactate solvent in the activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP) of methyl acrylate is demonstrated. The solvent has good solubility for both polymers and monomers and is cheap and relatively nontoxic. The effects of reducing agent type on the polymerization were investigated. Polymerization kinetics demonstrated that the polymerization was a controlled/“living” process with predictable molecular weights and relatively narrow polydispersities. The “livingness” of the PMA macroinitiators prepared by this catalytic system was further confirmed by chain-end characterization and successful re-initiation experiments. The data presented here prove that ethyl lactate is an excellent green substitute to avoid the use of toxic solvents for Cu(II)-mediated ATRP of methyl acrylate.