Free-radical polymerization of a reducing vinyl sugar ester in dimethylformamide and water

To develop a new synthetic polymer containing sugar branches, radical polymerization of the reducing vinyl sugar ester 6-O-vinyladipoyl-D -glucose ( 1 ) was performed in an organic solvent or in water. The polymers obtained with several azoinitiators in dimethylformamide (DMF) showed comparatively low average molecular weight (M?_n ≈ 4500). In contrast, the use of a redox initiator (FeSO₄ and H₂O₂) in water gave polymers of higher average molecular weight (M?_n ≈ 33000) in higher yield (90%), followed by crosslinking at high conversions.