Facile synthesis of block copolymers by tandem ROMP and eROP from esters precursors

In the present study, block copolymers were first synthesized through a tandem ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and conventional enzymatic ring-opening polymerization (eROP) from hydroxyl initiator. Furthermore, a novel synthesis route, single-step eROP from ester precursor was successfully developed to synthesize targeted copolymers. The as-prepared polymers were analyzed by NMR, GPC, DSC, and MALDI-TOF-MS. There was no difference in the characteristic peaks of NMR between the end products obtained from these two synthetic routes. The GPC data showed that the copolymer obtained from single-step eROP was similar to the end product obtained from the traditional multistep synthesis method. Afterward, we used model compounds to carry out the conventional eROP and the single-step eROP. Finally, through the kinetic analysis and structural analysis of the resulting product, a reasonable initiation mechanism for this single-step eROP was elucidated.