Synthesis of New AB2 Monomers for Polymerization to Hyperbranched Polymers by 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition

A number of AB 2 monomers containing either one azide and two acetylene functions or vice versa have been prepared. Upon polymerization, these compounds were found to give rise to hyperbranched oligomers as detected by NMR spectroscopy. However, the formation of high-molecular-weight polymers could not be proven by GPC analysis. Crosslinking was found to be a major drawback of this approach to hyperbranched polymers. Two examples of the interesting situation in which the polymerization already starts during the introduction of the polymerizable group are described.