Dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene (TM)) as a bio-renewable solvent for Cu(0)wire-mediated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) without external deoxygenation

Biorenewable dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene (TM)) is used as an effective dipolar aprotic solvent for Cu(0) wire-mediated RDRP of various monomers without external deoxygenation being applied. The solvent is used to give products with a broad range of molar masses (M-n similar to 700-28 000),in situchain extension and as low as 7.8 x 10(-4)eq. of [Cu(ii)Br-2] relative to initiator.