Entropically driven ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ED-ROMP) of macrocyclic olefin-containing oligoamides

When very concentrated solutions of the olefin-containing macrocyclic oligoamides in tetrahydrofuran at 56 °C were treated with Grubbs 'second generation' olefin metathesis catalyst, they readily underwent ED-ROMPs to give homopolymers or copolymers with DPs of >70. A copolymer with both amide and ester repeat units was prepared.