Photodegradable Polar Functionalized Polyethylenes

Abstract The degradation of plastics has attracted much attention from the global community. Polyethylenes (PEs) as most abundant synthetic are mostly studied. PE is non-degradable and non-polar because sole presence pure hydrocarbon components. Concurrent incorporation both in-chain cleavable functional groups into chain an effective pathway to overcome issue; however, method for achieving this remains elusive. Here, we report strictly nonalternating (>99%) terpolymerization ethylene with CO fundamental polar monomers via a coordination–insertion mechanism using late transition metal catalysts, which effectively prevents formation undesired chelates originating co-monomers under low concentration. High-molecular-weight linear PEs isolated keto main-chain prepared. key low-content makes photodegradable while retains their desirable bulk material properties, introduction considerably improves surface properties.