Interlocking degradation of vinyl polymers via main‐chain CC bonds scission by introducing pendant‐responsive comonomers
Sota YAMAMOTO, Tomohiro Kubo, Kotaro Satoh
Abstract
Abstract Degradation of vinyl polymers remains a challenge because of the robust main‐chain CC bonds. In this study, we designed novel pendant‐responsive comonomers with a carbon–halogen bond, which can be copolymerized with vinyl monomers to enable facile degradation of the CC backbone upon triggering stimulus. The comonomer unit was designed to induce interlocking degradation, that is, it first generates side‐chain radical upon trigger, subsequently provides a main‐chain radical via intramolecular 1,5‐shift, and then finally causes the main‐chain cleavage via β ‐scission. A remarkable decrease in molecular weight was observed when the obtained copolymer was treated with a copper catalyst, and the effect of polymer structure was assessed on the interlocking degradation behavior.