Photoinduced RAFT miniemulsion polymerization assisted by bio-based deep eutectic solvents
- 1Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan [email protected].
- 2Core Facility Center, National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan.
- 3Program on Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing, Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing, National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan.
Abstract
Emulsion polymerization in water is an important process to produce polymer latexes for various applications. Several recent works have attempted to use visible-light-driven reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization to further control polymer architectures in miniemulsion under mild conditions. However, photoinduced RAFT miniemulsion polymerization mediated by common amphiphilic chain transfer agents suffers from secondary nucleation, yielding latexes with broad molecular weight distributions. Here, we show that a bio-based hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (DES) composed of menthol and decanoic acid serves as a green functional additive that restores control over the polymerization. Incorporating the DES into the organic phase of a methyl methacrylate (MMA) miniemulsion reduced the molecular weight dispersity from 3.12 to 1.71, while maintaining rapid polymerization under blue visible light and open-to-air conditions. Also, miniemulsion polymerization with DES shows substantial polymerization in the dark after a brief period of irradiation, resulting in a process with lower energy cost than conventional photoinduced polymerization. In short, this work establishes inexpensive, low-toxicity DES as a practical route to energy-efficient, oxygen-tolerant, and precise photoinduced miniemulsion polymerization.
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BibTeX
@article{huang2026photoinduced,
title = {{Photoinduced RAFT miniemulsion polymerization assisted by bio-based deep eutectic solvents}},
author = {Yun-Lun Huang and Shih-Ching Wang and Sheng-Sheng Yu},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra10517c},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13725773},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Photoinduced RAFT miniemulsion polymerization assisted by bio-based deep eutectic solvents
AU - Yun-Lun Huang
AU - Shih-Ching Wang
AU - Sheng-Sheng Yu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra10517c
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13725773
AB - Emulsion polymerization in water is an important process to produce polymer latexes for various applications. Several recent works have attempted to use visible-light-driven reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization to further control polymer architectures in miniemulsion under mild conditions. However, photoinduced RAFT miniemulsion polymerization mediated by common amphiphilic chain transfer agents suffers from secondary nucleation, yielding latexes with broad molecular weight distributions. Here, we show that a bio-based hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (DES) composed of menthol and decanoic acid serves as a green functional additive that restores control over the polymerization. Incorporating the DES into the organic phase of a methyl methacrylate (MMA) miniemulsion reduced the molecular weight dispersity from 3.12 to 1.71, while maintaining rapid polymerization under blue visible light and open-to-air conditions. Also, miniemulsion polymerization with DES shows substantial polymerization in the dark after a brief period of irradiation, resulting in a process with lower energy cost than conventional photoinduced polymerization. In short, this work establishes inexpensive, low-toxicity DES as a practical route to energy-efficient, oxygen-tolerant, and precise photoinduced miniemulsion polymerization.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -