Anionic alternating copolymerization of 3,4‐dihydrocoumarin and glycidyl ethers: A new approach to polyester synthesis

Anionic copolymerizations of 3,4‐dihydrocoumarin (DHCM) and a series of glycidyl ethers (n‐butyl glycidyl ether, tert‐butyl glycidyl ether, and allyl glycidyl ether) with 2‐ethyl‐4‐methylimidazole as an initiator proceeded in a 1:1 alternating manner to give the corresponding polyesters, whose structures were confirmed by spectroscopic analyses and reductive scission of the ester bonds in the main chain with lithium aluminum hydride, followed by detailed analyses of the resulting fragments. The polyester obtained by the copolymerization of DHCM and allyl glycidyl ether inherited the allyl groups in the side chain, whose applicability to chemical modifications of the polyester was successfully demonstrated by a platinum‐catalyzed hydrosilylation reaction. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 4092–4102, 2008