Radical polymerization of a metastable lactone intermediate — formed from carbon dioxide and butadiene using a palladium catalyst — produces a high-CO2-content (29 wt%) polymer. This approach circumvents the thermodynamic and kinetic barriers typically associated with direct copolymerization of carbon dioxide and olefins, and can also be applied to one-pot co- and terpolymerization of carbon dioxide and 1,3-butadienes.
- Ryo Nakano
- Shingo Ito
- Kyoko Nozaki