ADMET polymerization in affordable, commercially available, high boiling solvents

Acyclic diene metathesis polymerization is a powerful technique for creating polymers with precise placement of functional groups. However, due to the need to use high vacuum or other methods to remove the volatile ethylene byproduct and drive the reaction forward, traditional solvents are not feasible. Here we demonstrate the use of three cheap, commercially available solvents as a medium for ADMET polymerizations: propylene carbonate, diethyl phthalate, and dioctyl phthalate. We have shown that by using these solvents, we can increase the molecular weights of ADMET-synthesized polyethylene by over 450% as compared to the bulk polymerization as well as reduce polymerization times from 72 h down to 24 and polymerize challenging, solid monomers.