The development of polymers from renewable resources is a promising approach to reduce reliance on petrochemicals. In addition, depolymerization is attracting significant attention for the breakdown of polymers at their end‐of‐life or to achieve specific stimuli‐responsive functions. However, the design of polymers incorporating both of these features remains a challenge. Herein, we report a new class of self‐immolative polymers based on lignin‐derived aldehydes via a simple thiol‐ene polymerization. These self‐immolative polymers undergo cascade degradation in response to specific stimuli through alternating 1,6‐elimination and cyclization reactions. The two methoxy substituents on the syringaldehyde monomer accelerated the desired depolymerization reaction, while enhancing stability against undesired backbone hydrolysis. Moreover, diverse responsive end‐caps could be introduced through post‐polymerization functionalization from a single polymer precursor.

中文翻译：

---

通过巯基-烯化学从可再生资源中提取的自焚聚合物


利用可再生资源开发聚合物是减少对石化产品依赖的一种很有前途的方法。此外，解聚因其聚合物在使用寿命结束时的分解或实现特定的刺激响应功能而受到广泛关注。然而，结合这两种特性的聚合物设计仍然是一个挑战。在此，我们报道了一类基于木质素衍生醛的新型自焚聚合物，通过简单的巯基烯聚合。这些自焚聚合物通过交替的 1,6-消除和环化反应响应特定刺激而发生级联降解。丁香醛单体上的两个甲氧基取代基加速了所需的解聚反应，同时增强了对不需要的骨架水解的稳定性。此外，可以通过单个聚合物前体的聚合后官能化引入不同的响应端盖。