Synthesis of Degradable Polyolefins Bearing Disulfide Units via Metathesis Copolymerization

Disulfide bonds are dynamic covalent bonds, which are easy to cleave and reform upon chemical stimulus. Various methods including the oxidative coupling of thiols and polymerization of disulfide-containing monomers have been developed for the synthesis of poly(disulfide)s. However, installing small amounts of disulfide units in the main chain of polyolefins has received much less attention. Herein, we report a novel strategy for incorporating cleavable disulfide units into the backbone of polyolefins using commercially available diallyl disulfide (DADS) as a comonomer via metathesis copolymerization. The copolymerization of diallyl disulfide with cyclooctene occurred using the second-generation Grubbs catalyst under mild conditions, allowing for the synthesis of copolymers with adjustable disulfide content ranging from 0.7 to 8.5 mol%, and the molecular weight of the obtained copolymers ranged from 5.8 kg·mol^-1 to 42.8 kg·mol^-1. The resulting polyolefins with disulfide insertion retained excellent thermal processability and exhibited degradability. Treatment of the copolymer (8.5 mol% disulfide content) with tri-n-butylphosphine resulted in a significant reduction in molecular weight from 5.8 kg·mol^-1 to 1.6 kg·mol^-1. Successful copolymerization with diallyl disulfide provides a convenient and effective method for obtaining degradable polyolefins.