Achieving high molecular weight alternating copolymers of 1-octene with methyl acrylate Lewis acid catalyzed copolymerization.

The radical (co)polymerization of long-chain α-olefins (C) to produce high molecular weight () polymers is of great importance. However, this process is currently faced with significant challenges due to the presence of less reactive allylic radicals during radical (co)polymerization, leading to oligomers or polymers with extremely low (less than 1 × 10 g mol). Using copolymerization of 1-octene with methyl acrylate (MA) as a proof-of-concept for addressing this challenge, we present a feasible method for synthesizing high α-olefin copolymers scandium trifluoromethanesulfonate (Sc(OTf))-mediated radical copolymerization.