N-Vinylformamide – Building Block for Novel Polymer Structures

Abstract

N-Vinylformamide (NVF, N-ethenylformamide) is a precursor to amide and amine functional polymers and to other monomers, oligomers, and functional polymers. NVF shows attractive physical and toxicological properties and high reactivity, both in polymerization and in subsequent hydrolysis to cationic and reactive amine functional polymers or oligomers. NVF radical polymerization readily yields water soluble homopolymers with molecular weights from 10⁴ to >10⁶. Copolymerizability is similar to other vinyl amides. Unexpectedly, NVF will also undergo cationic oligomerization. Hydrolysis of polymers and copolymers with base or acid is facile, although reactions with neighboring groups (e.g., with coacrylate ester groups to give lactams) complicate copolymer hydrolysis.

Reaction of NVF at the unusually acidic NH group allows reaction with isocyanates to give vinylacylureas or Michael addition to acrylates to give a family of new N-vinylformamidopropionate esters. These esters in turn react with functional amines to generate new families of divinyl, vinyl/alcohol functional, or vinyl/amino functional comonomers. Applications for NVF and its derived monomers and polymers appear numerous, in particular in radiation cure coatings, based on their good physical and toxicological properties.