Masakatsu Kuroki

Control of Addition and Ring-Opening Polymerizations with Metalloporphyrin Catalyst

Aluminum and zinc porphyrins are excellent initiators of wide applicability for the living polymerizations of heterocyclic and vinyl monomers such as epoxides, episulfides, lactones, methacrylates, acrylates, and methacrylonitrile. Most characteristic of the metalloporphyrin systems is the remarkable accelerating effect of visible light, as observed in the polymerizations of acrylic monomers with aluminum porphyrin and of epoxide with zinc porphyrin. Substituents on the porphyrin ligand exhibit profound influence on the reactivity of initiating and growing species, to provide the possibility of molecular design of highly active systems.