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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Photogeneration of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Application in Photoinduced Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization
Published on: November 29, 2018
Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Biomass-Derived Levoglucosenol
Tapas Debsharma1, Felix N Behrendt1, André Laschewsky1,2
1Institute of Chemistry, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, Potsdam, 14476, Germany.
Abstract:
The readily available cellulose-derived bicyclic compound levoglucosenol was polymerized through ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) to yield polylevoglucosenol as a novel type of biomass-derived thermoplastic polyacetal, which, unlike polysaccharides, contains cyclic as well as linear segments in its main chain. High-molar-mass polyacetals with apparent weight-average molar masses of up to 100 kg mol-1 and dispersities of approximately 2 were produced despite the non-living/controlled character of the polymerization due to irreversible deactivation or termination of the catalyst/active chain ends. The resulting highly functionalized polyacetals are glassy in bulk with a glass transition temperature of around 100 °C. In analogy to polysaccharides, polylevoglucosenol degrades slowly in an acidic environment.
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