Real-Time and in Situ Investigation of “Living”/Controlled Photopolymerization in the Presence of a Trithiocarbonate

Polymerization of methyl acrylate under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in the presence of <i>S</i>-1-dodecyl-<i>S</i>′-(α,α′-dimethyl-α″-acetic acid) trithiocarbonate (DDMAT) was investigated by in situ ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Effects of light intensity, wavelength, and concentration of DDMAT on the polymerization behaviors were studied in detail. The experimental results demonstrate that the “living” features of the photopolymerization are related to the concentration of DDMAT. “Living”/controlled radical polymerization was successfully achieved with a high concentration of DDMAT. However, with a low concentration of DDMAT, the polymerization proceeded in an uncontrolled manner and produced polymers with high molecular weights and broad polydispersities. Photochemical behavior of DDMAT was studied in detail, and the results showed that the photolysis of DDMAT was reversible at high concentration, whereas contrarily, DDMAT decomposed irreversibly at low concentration. A possible mechanism was proposed for the reversible photolysis of DDMAT at high concentration, which may involve both reversible termination and reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer approaches