Polymer Synthesis with More Than One Form of Living Polymerization Method

Controlled radical polymerization (CRP) or controlled/living radical polymerization has revolutionized the polymer industry as a tool for the preparation of a wide variety of polymers. This process enables the preparation of polymers with good control of molecular weight, narrow polydispersity, and a range of architectures including block and graft copolymers, star polymers, and other functional polymers. The mechanistic transformation reaction provides a great opportunity to tune chemical and physical properties of copolymers. It can be applied to combine different homopolymers using post-modification techniques or by the use of a dual initiator, allowing the combination of mechanistically distinct polymerization reactions. This review will cover CRP transformations including the synthesis of block copolymers with both linear structures (AB, ABA, (AB) _n , multiblocks, etc.) and branched macromolecular architectures (graft, miktoarm star, and dendritic-like), which are obtained by a combination of more than one form of living polymerization reaction.