| Abstract: | Two stereoisomeric trimethacrylates, T1 and T2 , which share a common adamantane‐like rigid core, were synthesized from naturally occurring myo‐inositol, and their radical polymerization behaviors were investigated. For the synthesis of T1 , myo‐inositol was converted to triol 1 , bearing one equatorial hydroxyl group and two axial hydroxyl groups, by orthoesterification, which was used as a precursor. For the synthesis of T2 , 1 was converted to triol 2 , bearing three axial hydroxyl groups, which was used as a precursor. Investigations on the radical polymerization of T1 and T2 , which potentially accompanies the cyclopolymerization of the axially oriented methacrylate moieties, revealed significant differences between the two. (1) The polymerization of T1 affords networked and thus insoluble polymers PT1 , while that of T2 affords less crosslinked and thus soluble polymers PT2 . (2) The amount of residual methacrylate moieties was larger in PT2 than in PT1 . (3) PT2 had higher thermal stability than PT1 , though PT2 contained a larger amount of unreacted methacrylate moieties. These tendencies were successfully correlated with the difference in cyclopolymerization efficiency between the polymerizations of the two monomers. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018 , 56, 1743–1748 |
