Dual-site catalysis for sustainable polymers to replace current commodity polymers – carbonylative copolymerization of ethylene, ethylene oxide, and tetrahydrofuran

Abstract

Zwitterionic Ni(II)-catalyzed carbonylative copolymerization of ethylene and cyclic ethers for the synthesis of photolytically and hydrolytically degradable polymers is reported. The segmented tetrapolymer products are composed of polyketone segments from alternating enchainments of CO and ethylene and poly(ether-co-ester) segments from non-alternating enchainments of CO, ethylene oxide, and tetrahydrofuran. Plastic and elastic products can be obtained via the general synthetic platform with the appropriate choice of catalyst and polymerization conditions.