Living Radical Polymerization by the RAFT Process—A First Update

Graeme Moad; Ezio Rizzardo; San H. Thang

doi:10.1071/CH06250

RESEARCH FRONT

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Living Radical Polymerization by the RAFT Process—A First Update

Graeme Moad ^A , Ezio Rizzardo ^A and San H. Thang ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies, Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC 3169, Australia. Email: graeme.moad@csiro.au; ezio.rizzardo@csiro.au; san.thang@csiro.au

Graeme Moad obtained his B.Sc.(Hons1) in 1974 and Ph.D. in 1977 from the University of Adelaide in the field of organic free radical chemistry. Between 1977 and 1979 he undertook postdoctoral research at Pennsylvania State University in the field of biological organic chemistry. He joined CSIRO as a research scientist in 1979 and is currently a chief research scientist. Dr Moad is coauthor of the book ‘The Chemistry of Free Radical Polymerization’ which appeared as a second edition in 2006. His research interests lie in the fields of polymer design and synthesis (free radical polymerization, reactive extrusion), polymerization kinetics and mechanism, and most recently polymer nanocomposites.

Ezio Rizzardo is a graduate of the University of New South Wales and received his Ph.D. from the University of Sydney for his studies on the photochemistry of nitro compounds. He joined CSIRO in 1976 after a postdoc at Rice University, RIMAC, and the Australian National University. His CSIRO research has focussed on developing methods for controlling free radical polymerization. For this he has received a number of awards including the RACI Australian Polymer Medal and the CSIRO Chairman's Gold Medal. Currently he is a CSIRO Fellow and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

San H. Thang was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1954 and came to Australia in 1979 as a refugee. He completed his B.Sc.(Hons) degree in 1983 and Ph.D. in 1987 from Griffith University. He joined CSIRO in 1986 as a research fellow. He then moved to ICI Australia in late 1987 to undertake the challenge of industrial research. He returned to CSIRO in late 1990, and in 1995 he was co-inventor of the RAFT Process. He is currently a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies where his research focusses on the interface between organic and polymer chemistry.

Australian Journal of Chemistry 59(10) 669-692 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH06250
Submitted: 17 July 2006 Accepted: 28 September 2006 Published: 30 October 2006

Abstract

This paper provides a first update to the review of living radical polymerization achieved with thiocarbonylthio compounds (ZC(=S)SR) by a mechanism of Reversible Addition–Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) published in June 2005. The time since that publication has witnessed an increased rate of publication on the topic with the appearance of well over 200 papers covering various aspects of RAFT polymerization ranging over reagent synthesis and properties, kinetics, and mechanism of polymerization, novel polymer syntheses, and diverse applications.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to DuPont Performance Coatings for their support of the work carried out at CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies.

References