Broadening the scope of functional groups accessible in aliphatic polycarbonates by the introduction of RAFT initiating sites

The combination of disparate polymerization techniques has attracted considerable attention over the past decade since it allows the generation of materials from monomers that polymerize by fundamentally different mechanisms. Various strategies have been employed including the use of dual initiators, chain-end or pendent group transformations to produce block,1 graft,2 brush,3 star,4 miktoarm,5 and cross-linked 6 copolymers. Another approach uses inimers or functional monomers bearing an active initiator as a pendent group.7 This strategy is particularly attractive for ring-opening polymerization (ROP) as the inventory of cyclic ester and carbonate monomers available are limited. (...)