Water-soluble and hydrolysis-resistant activated ester polymers: Synthesis, characterization, and application for preparing functional polymers

Abstract Post-polymerization modification of pendant-activated ester groups on polymer backbones is a versatile tool to obtain multifunctional water-soluble polymers that cannot be synthesized by typical methods of polymerization. For the first time, short-chain PEG functionalized hydroxybenzoic acid esters (PHBE) were employed to synthesize novel monomers and polymers. The corresponding PHBE-bearing polymers were successfully synthesized for post-polymerization modification by free radical polymerization. More significantly, acrylic PEG functionalized hydroxybenzoic acid esters polymers showed traceless hydrolysis at room temperature for more than 10 days. Furthermore, the multifunctional PHBE-bearing polymers could be directly conjugated to water-soluble amines in water at room temperature. Therefore, this procedure provides an alternative route to well-defined, multifunctional, water-soluble polymers for a range of applications. Graphical Abstract