Crosslinking and de-crosslinking reactions of an alternating copolymer of maleic anhydride (MAn) and 2,4-dimethyl-1,3-pentadiene (DMPD) by thermal curing with polyfunctional alcohols as the crosslinkers and subsequent ozone degradation are reported in this article. The ring-opening reaction of an anhydride group by polyfunctional alcohols produces network polymers with an ester linkage. The rate of crosslinking reaction depends on the curing conditions, i.e. the structure of the used alcohols and the curing temperature and time. The crosslinking density of the alcohol-cured copolymers is low due to a slow reaction between the anhydride and hydroxy groups, being different from the corresponding epoxy-cured copolymer with a dense network structure reported in a previous article. The insoluble resins are readily de-crosslinked and solubilized by ozone degradation. The polymer surface modification by ozone is also investigated.

We report the synthesis of a readily curable and degradable resin using an alternating copolymer of maleic anhydride and 2,4-dimethyl-1,3-pentadiene. The anhydride moiety of the alternating copolymer reacted with difunctional compounds, such as diepoxy, diol, and diamine derivatives as the crosslinkers, to produce network polymers by thermal curing. The subsequent ozone degradation of these thermosetting resins induced the cleavage of a carbon-to-carbon double bond in the polymer main chains, leading to the re-solubilization and surface modification of the crosslinked polymer materials.

Crosslinking and decrosslinking reactions of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) using an alternating copolymer of maleic anhydride and 2,4‐dimethyl‐1,3‐pentadiene (PMAD) as the polyfunctional crosslinker and subsequent ozone degradation are reported. PVA and PVAc are heated at 200 °C for 0.5 to 3 h in the presence of 5 to 30 wt % of PMAD in the solid state to obtain the corresponding crosslinked polymers. The reactions of a hydroxy group of PVA and an acetate group of PVAc with an anhydride group of PMAD slowly proceed to give insoluble polymers with a loose crosslinking structure. Almost no change in the thermal decomposition temperatures and the IR spectra is observed during the crosslinking reactions. The crosslinked PVA produces hydrogels with a high swelling ratio of 500 to 1700%, which are readily degradable during a reaction with ozone in water at 0 °C. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44229.