Synthesis of poly(norbornene-g-ε-caprolactone) copolymers by sequential controlled ring opening polymerization

Poly(norbornene-g-ε-caprolactone) copolymers have been prepared by the "grafting from" technique. Well controlled polynorbornene containing 5% acetate pendant groups has been firstly synthesized by ruthenium complex-mediated ring opening metathesis polymerization. The acetate groups have been derivatized into aluminum alkoxides by hydrolysis into alcohol followed by reaction of the alcohol with triethylaluminum. The two polymerization steps are under complete control, so that graft copolymers have been synthesized with a narrow molecular weight distribution and are free from any detectable traces of the parent homopolymers as stated by selective fractionation experiments. These original copolymers have been characterized by SEC, FTIR, 1H NMR, DSC, TGA.