Controlled Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of a New Monomer: On Switching the Solvent - Water-soluble Homopolymers to Degradable Copolymers.

A new heterocyclic monomer was developed via simple Diels-Alder reaction which is reluctant to polymerize in dichloromethane (DCM) whereas undergoes facile polymerization in tetrahydrofuran (THF) with excellent control over molecular weight (M n ) and dispersities (Đ) using Grubbs' third generation catalyst (G3). The deprotection of the tert-butoxycarbonyl group (BOC group) from the polymeric backbone yielded a water-soluble ROMP polymer easily. Moreover, in DCM this new monomer copolymerizes with 2,3-dihydrofuran (DHF) under catalytic living ROMP conditions to give backbone degradable polymers. All the synthesized polymers were characterized by SEC and NMR spectroscopy. We believe that this new route to water soluble ROMP homopolymers as well as the cost-effective and environmentally friendly route to degradable copolymers and block-copolymers could find applications in biomedicine in the near future. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.