Title: group-transfer polymerization
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - group-transfer polymerization
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08910
Status: current

Definition
Chain polymerization in which a specific atom or group is intramolecularly transferred to remain associated with the active chain-end during the course of polymerization.

Notes
1) Group-transfer polymerization is most often a reversible-deactivation polymerization or a coordination addition polymerization.
2) The term group-transfer polymerization is often specifically associated with polymerization of (meth)acrylates and acrylamides initiated by silyl ketene acetals such as 1-methoxy-2-methyl-1-(trimethylsiloxy)prop-1-ene (traditional name is methyl trimethylsilyl dimethylketene acetal) and catalysed by nucleophiles.
3) Other forms of chain polymerization commonly referred to as group-transfer polymerizations include catalyst-transfer polymerization and rare-earth-mediated or lanthanide-mediated coordination polymerization.

Related Terms
- anionic group-transfer polymerization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08977
- catalyst-transfer polymerization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09010
- coordination addition polymerization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08996
- lanthanide-mediated coordination polymerization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09008
- reversible-deactivation polymerization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08912

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 1093. 'Terminology for chain polymerization (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 1100 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-1211)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08910/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08910/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08910/xml

Citation: Citation: 'group-transfer polymerization' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.08910
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Accessed: 2026-06-21T23:20:19+00:00