Polymer synthesis based on 2‐(hydroxyphenyl)‐2‐oxazolines

Abstract 2‐(Hydroxyphenyl)‐2oxazolines( p ‐ and n ‐isomers 1a and 1b ) were used for the synthesis of various polymers. Cationic polymerization of 2‐methyl‐2‐oxazoline initiated with the N ‐methyl 2 ‐oxazolinium species 3 , Derived from 1 , Gave telechelic poly( N ‐acetylethylenimine) ( 5 ) having a hydroxyl group of different reactivity at both ends. Anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide induced by the lithium salt of 1, 7 , produced a poly(ethylene oxide) macromer, 9 , having a ringopening polymerizable 2‐oxazoline group. The copolymer from 9 and 2‐phenyl‐2oxazoline, 10 , has been shown to have good properties as a nonionic polymeric surfactant in which the N ‐benzoylethylenimine main‐chain behaves as a lipophilic group whereas the oxyethylene graftchains act as a hydrophilic group. Di‐salt 11 derived from 1 was polymerized to give polymide 13 (“amphi‐ionic polymerization”).