Click chemistry meets polymerization: Controlled incorporation of an easily accessible ruthenium(II) complex into a PMMA backbone via RAFT copolymerization

The copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition provided an easy and efficient access to a functionalized heteroleptic ruthenium(II) complex monomer. A grafted copolymer with the heteroleptic ruthenium(II) complex and methyl methacrylate (MMA) as comonomer was synthesized by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The product was characterized by means of 1H NMR spectroscopy, UV/vis spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector. The RAFT process itself led to a grafted copolymer with a low polydispersity index.