Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Functionalized Vinyl Monomers Using Perylene as a Visible Light Photocatalyst
Published on: April 22, 2016
Tuning Dispersity by Photoinduced Atom Transfer Radical Polymerisation: Monomodal Distributions with ppm Copper
Richard Whitfield1, Kostas Parkatzidis1, Manon Rolland1
1Laboratory of Polymeric Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Dispersity significantly affects the properties of polymers. However, current methods for controlling the polymer dispersity are limited to bimodal molecular weight distributions, adulterated polymer chains, or low end-group fidelity and rely on feeding reagents, flow-based, or multicomponent systems. To overcome these limitations, we report a simple batch system whereby photoinduced atom transfer radical polymerisation is exploited as a convenient and versatile technique to control dispersity of both homopolymers and block copolymers. By varying the concentration of the copper complex, a wide range of monomodal molecular weight distributions can be obtained (Đ=1.05-1.75). In all cases, high end-group fidelity was confirmed by MALDI-ToF-MS and exemplified by efficient block copolymer formation (monomodal, Đ=1.1-1.5). Importantly, our approach utilises ppm levels of copper (as low as 4 ppm), can be tolerant to oxygen and exhibits perfect temporal control, representing a major step forward in tuning polymer dispersity for various applications.
Related Concept Videos
Distribution and Dispersion
Radical Reactivity: Concentration Effects
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Atomic Orbitals
Expressing Solution Concentration
Concentrations may be quantitatively assessed using a wide variety of measurement units, each convenient for particular applications. Molarity (M) is a useful concentration unit for many applications in chemistry.
The Energies of Atomic Orbitals

