Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer or
RAFT polymerization is one of several kinds of
Reversible-deactivation radical polymerization. It makes use of a
chain transfer agent in the form of a thiocarbonylthio compound (or similar, from here on referred to as a RAFT agent, see Figure 1) to afford control over the generated molecular weight and polydispersity during a free-radical polymerization. Discovered at the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia in 1998, RAFT polymerization is one of several
living or Controlled
radical polymerization techniques, others being
atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and
nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP), etc. RAFT polymerization uses thiocarbonylthio compounds, such as dithioesters,
thiocarbamates, and
xanthates, to mediate the polymerization via a reversible chain-transfer process. As with other controlled radical polymerization techniques, RAFT polymerizations can be performed with conditions to favor low
dispersity (molecular weight distribution) and a pre-chosen molecular weight. RAFT polymerization can be used to design polymers of complex
architectures, such as linear block copolymers, comb-like, star, brush polymers,
dendrimers and cross-linked networks.