Vinylboronic acid pinacol ester as a vinyl alcohol-precursor monomer in radical copolymerization with styrene

Abstract

The use of vinylboronic acid pinacol ester (VBpin) as a comonomer and post-polymerization oxidation afforded vinyl alcohol (VA)–styrene copolymers, which were difficult to synthesize using a typical VA precursor monomer, vinyl acetate (VAc). The molar mass was controllable by applying RAFT polymerization and the VA composition ratio could be tuned from 11% to 72%. The solubility and glass-transition temperature were also evaluated with the copolymers of different composition ratios.