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Updated: Jul 2, 2025

A Simple and Efficient Protocol for the Catalytic Insertion Polymerization of Functional Norbornenes
Published on: February 27, 2017
Keto-Polyethylenes with Controlled Crystallinity and Materials Properties from Catalytic Ethylene-CO-Norbornene
Fabio De Stefano1,2, Maximilian Baur1, Claudio De Rosa2
1Chair of Chemical Materials Science, Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Konstanz 78464, Germany.
Abstract:
Recent advances in Ni(II) catalyzed, nonalternating catalytic copolymerization of ethylene with carbon monoxide (CO) enable the synthesis of in-chain keto-functionalized polyethylenes (keto-PEs) with high-density polyethylene-like materials properties. Addition of norbornene as a bulky, noncrystallizable comonomer during catalytic polymerization allows tuning of the crystallinity in these keto-PE materials by randomly incorporated norbornene units in the polymer chain, while molecular weights are not adversely affected. Such crystallinity-reduced keto-PEs are characterized as softer materials with better ductility and may therefore be more suited for, e.g., potential film applications.
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