Polymers containing anhydride moieties have several medical and pharmaceutical applications due to their properties of linear surface erosion and the biocompatibility of the degradation products. Anhydride functional groups can also undergo dynamic covalent exchange (DCE) in some of these polymers, which allows them to be recyclable and reconfigurable. One such polymer is poly(methacrylic anhydride) (PMAA). This dimethacrylate forms a highly crosslinked network polymer under typical radical polymerization conditions. However, we have synthesized soluble PMAA (i.e., non-crosslinked) through radical polymerization of methacrylic anhydride (MAA) under dilute conditions. We also have shown that chain lengths can be controlled using the catalytic chain transfer agent bis(boron difluoromethylglyoximate) cobaltate(II) (CoBF). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), <sup>1</sup>H and <sup>13</sup>C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques were used to show that the polymer repeat units are (within limits of the analytical methods used) exclusively cyclic anhydride repeat units such the final product is a soluble, linear polymer formed by extensive cyclopropagation.

Synthesis of soluble poly(methacrylic anhydride) through cyclopolymerizations

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