Photo‐mediated metal free atom transfer radical polymerization of acrylamide in water

Photo‐mediated metal free atom transfer radical polymerization of acrylamide was conducted at 25 °C in water under visible light irradiation with water soluble 2‐hydroxy‐3‐(4‐benzoylphenoxy)‐N,N,N‐trimethyl‐1‐propaminium chloride (HBTPC) as photoredox catalyst and 2‐hydroxyethyl 2‐bromoisobutyrate as alkyl halide. The polymerization followed first‐order reaction kinetics. The living character of photo‐mediated atom transfer radical polymerization of acrylamide was verified by the linear development of the polymer number average molar mass (M_n,GPC) with monomer conversion and narrow molecular weight distributions (?). The effects of acrylamide concentration, light intensity, amount of HBTPC, and tris(2‐dimethylaminoethyl)amine on polymerization were investigated. Increasing monomer concentration led to a higher M_n,GPC values with narrow ?. The polymerization rate increased with increasing the amount of monomer, light intensity, HBTPC and tris(2‐dimethylaminoethyl)amine. The polymerization was monitored by the periodic light on/off. The structure of polyacrylamide was analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and gel permeation chromatography. Successful chain extension experiments show the controlled nature of the polymerization. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46567.