Oxadiazabicyclooctenone as a versatile monomer for the construction of pH sensitive functional polymers via ROMP

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) is a powerful method for the synthesis of various functional polymers including, but not limited to, biologically active polymers owing to its living character. However, the majority of polymers obtained by ROMP have a nondegradable backbone and there are very few examples of fully degradable polymers synthesized via ROMP. Herein, oxadiazabicyclooctenone is successfully developed as a versatile monomer for the construction of new pH-sensitive polymers by ROMP. The degradability was also introduced into the backbone of poly(oxa)norbornenes by copolymerization.