Highly Efficient Synthesis of Functionalizable Polymers from a CO2/1,3-Butadiene-Derived Lactone

Making polymers from CO2 and olefins has been long sought and is of particular significance for chemical utilizations of CO2. Herein, high molecular-weight polymers with 29 wt % CO2 were obtained by polymerizing a delta-lactone (L) synthesized from a C-C coupling reaction between CO2 and 1,3-butadiene, an economical large-volume chemical that can also be derived from top biomass platform chemicals. Although L has been known for many years, little was investigated in its polymerization. We found that L's polymerizability can be vitalized upon simply heating in the presence of O-2. The polymerization is additive/solvent-free with abundant preserved olefins and up to full monomer conversion, providing a convenient, economical, and scalable avenue to obtain CO2-derived polymers with potentially tailorable properties via the readily modifiable olefins.