Figure 1. A simple “one-pot” route to a photocrosslinkable pre-polymer.

The homopolymerization of EGDMA via in situ Deactivation Enhanced ATRP (DE-ATRP) allows the formation of a growing chain and intramolecular cyclizations. In the early reaction phases a knot structured polymer is produced, however, at later stages these knots combine via traditional intermolecular branches.