Self-immolative polymers (SIPs) are promising materials due to their unique head-to-tail depolymerization ability in response to external stimuli. However, most of SIPs are highly labile to acidic or basic conditions for their nucleophilic/anionic depolymerization mechanisms. Herein, a novel class of enyne self-immolative polymers (SIPs) capable of metathesis cascade-triggered depolymerization is reported. Studies on model compounds established 1,6- enyne structures for efficient metathesis cascade reactions. SIPs incorporating the optimized 1,6-enyne motif were prepared via both iterative exponential growth and polycondensation approaches. These SIPs demonstrated excellent stability in strong acid, base, nucleophiles, or at elevated temperatures, and can undergo efficient and complete depolymerization once triggered by a metathesis catalyst. Further studies revealed that introducing a terminal alkene to the chain end of the enyne SIPs improved the depolymerization efficiency, and established their potential as stimuli-responsive materials.

Metathesis cascade-triggered depolymerization of enyne self-immolative polymers

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