RAFT is one of the most versatile and convenient techniques in this context. The most common RAFT-processes are carried out in the presence of thiocarbonylthio compounds that act as radical buffers.
While in ATRP and NMP reversible deactivation of propagating radical-radical reactions takes place and the dormant structures are a halo-compound in ATRP and the alkoxyamine in NMP, both being a sink for radicals and source at the same time and described by the corresponding equilibria. RAFT on the contrary, is controlled by chain-transfer reactions that are in a deactivation-activation equilibrium. Since no radicals are generated or destroyed an external source of radicals is necessary for initiation and maintenance of the propagation reaction.
;Initiation step of a RAFT polymerization
;Reversible chain transfer
;Reinitiation step
;Chain equilibration step
;Termination step