Abstract
Well-defined photoresponsive polymers of vinyl ethers with various azo side groups were synthesized via living cationic copolymerization using Et1.5AlCl1.5 in the presence of an ester as an added base. Despite the apparently undesirable structures, too basic or bulky, of azo-containing monomers for cationic polymerization, all copolymerizations with an alkyl vinyl ether proceeded with livingness to yield the product polymers with extremely narrow MWDs (Mw/Mn = 1.06−1.13). It should be noted that living polymers were produced even from a monomer with the dimethylamino group. The different azo groups in the product copolymers permitted reversible photo-responsive isomerization at a specific wavelength related to the structure of the azo group.
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