Structural control of hybrid polymers by macromolecular olefin metathesis

Olefin-containing crystalline polyester and 1,4-polybutadiene were hybridized by macromolecular olefin cross-metathesis. The mixtures of the polymers were hybridized by treating with Grubbs catalyst (0.1mol% or 1mol% / total double bonds) in dichloromethane. The hybridized polymers were characterized by H-H COSY, SEC, DSC, WAXD, and SAXS measurements. These measurements clearly revealed that macromolecular crossover reaction of the polymers proceeded to afford the corresponding copolymers. In the case of 0.1mol% catalyst, the resulting polymers were characterized to be multiblock copolymers which show low crystallinity of polyester domain. In contrast, by increasing the amount of catalyst to lmol%, the hybrid polymers were given as random copolymers, which are no longer crystalline state.