Living radical polymerization - Current status and future perspective

Living radical polymerization (LRP) has attracted a great deal of attention recently from various viewpoints. This is not only because the development of new LRP methods is a scientific challenge, but also because LRP would allow the synthesis of high-valued functional polymeric materials with controlled macromolecular structures for nanosciences and technologies. This review summarizes and compares representative LRP methods developed during the past 15 years from the mechanistic viewpoint to understand their similarities and differences. Nitroxide-mediated living radical polymerization (NMP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer radical polymerization (RAFT), and organotellurium-mediated living radical polymerization (TERP) are discussed. This review will be published as two sections. This first section deals with the definition of LRP, the historical background of its discovery, common reaction mechanisms, and the mechanism of NMP. The second section will describe mechanisms of ATRP, RAFT, and TERP, and recent topics and future perspective of LRPs.