Branched polymers starting from ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers

Abstract Polyethylene-graft-poly-2-phenyl-2-oxazoline, polyethylene-graft-poly-2-methyl-2-oxazoline and polyethylenegraft-poly(ethylene oxide) were prepared using poly(ethylene-co-vinyl chloroformate) as macroinitiator or polyfunctional precursor. The vinyl acetate groups of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer were hydrolyzed, the corresponding alcohol functions were converted into chloroformate, which in turn was used for grafting of oxazolines. Comb-like polymers with hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) grafts with definite length were synthesized as well. The resulting graft copolymers were characterized by GPC, IR, and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry.