Investigation of the copolymerization behavior of a cyclic carbonate with vinyl acetate using CMRP

Ethylene is an unconjugated monomer difficult to copolymerise in a controlled fashion using common radical or coordination-insertion polymerisation. Cobalt-mediated radical polymerisation (CMRP) provides a powerful means to radically copolymerise ethylene in a controlled fashion under mild conditions.[1][2] In addition, different copolymer structures, such as block or alternating, can be accessed. ACO2-based cyclic carbonate was chosen as a promising comonomer but conflicting reports on the copolymer structure have been reported.[3][4] To better understand the copolymerisation behaviour of this monomer, model copolymerisations with vinyl acetate were performed and are reported below with the aim of gaining insights into the copolymersiation behaviour, which will allow us to better tackle ethylene copolymerisations