Facile synthesis, structure and properties of CO2-sourced poly(thioether-co-carbonate)s containing acetyl pendants via thio-ene click polymerization

Abstract

Herein, we present a facile and effective method for the synthesis of CO₂-sourced sequence-controlled poly(thioether-co-carbonate)s via consecutive organocatalyzed carboxylative cyclization of vinyl-functionalized propargylic alcohol with CO₂, ring-opening transesterification of the resultant cyclic carbonate with polyols, and subsequent photo-initiated thio-ene click polymerization. More diverse units can be successively introduced into the polymer chain during this process and the structural characterization was identified by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. The presence of uniformly distributed acetyl pendants at the β-position of the carbonate moiety endows polymers with novel degradation ability. Moreover, hyperbranched poly(thioether-co-carbonate)s exhibit blue fluorescence under UV irradiation. Thus, this strategy is a promising method for rapid access to constructing CO₂-sourced sequence-controlled polymers with highly diverse structure and multiple functionality.