Synthesis of Poly(vitamin C) through ADMET.

l-Ascorbic acid, commonly known as vitamin C and one of the most important biological compounds, is converted to a α,ω-diene monomer and subsequently polymerized for the first time by acyclic diene metathesis. Various experimental conditions such as polymerization medium, catalyst type, temperature, and monomer/catalyst ratio are studied. The moderate molecular weight polymers are achieved when the polymerizations are conducted under bulk conditions employing the Grubbs first generation (G1) or Hoveyda-Grubbs second generation catalyst (HG-2). In the solution case, on the other hand, low molecular weight polymers are obtained regardless of the catalyst type. Moreover, when the catalyst performances are compared, it is found that G1 produces the higher molecular weight as well as higher yield polymers with respect to the HG-2.