Fully Degradable Polyacrylate Networks from Conventional Radical Polymerization Enabled by Thionolactone Addition

We report the preparation of degradable polymer networks by conventional free radical copolymerization n-butyl acrylate with a crosslinker (1 mol %) and dibenzo[c,e]oxepane-5-thione (DOT) as strand-cleaving comonomer. Addition only 4 % DOT imparts synthesized full degradability aminolysis, whereas gels less (2–3 cannot be degraded. This data confirms recently proposed reverse gel-point model for prepared polymerization demonstrates importance considering kinetics when designing fully gels. Notably, even though significantly slows down delays gelation, it has minimal effect on physical properties such shear storage modulus, equilibrium swelling ratio, glass transition temperature, or thermal stability.