The use of UV/visible light irradiation as a means to initiate organic syntheses is increasingly attractive due to the high spatial and temporal control conferred by photochemical processes. The aim of this work is thus to demonstrate that alkoxyamines bearing a chromophore on the alkyl moiety can provide a photoprotecting group for the sensitive nitroxide functionality, that is known to degrade through redox processes. The dissociation of various photosensitive alkoxyamines was studied from 223 to 298 K under UV/visible irradiation, depending on the nature of the chromophore. In each case a rapid (typically in less than 1 h) and near-quantitative dissociation was observed. As an illustration of the interest of this approach, a pyrene-based alkoxyamine was employed for the spatially controlled coupling of polymer chains onto Si wafers to produce micropatterned surfaces.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.