Poly(vinyl alcohol) modified with carboxylic acid anhydrides: crosslinking through carboxylic groups

The reaction of carboxylic acid anhydride with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) leads to vinyl alcohol—vinyl ester copolymers which contain carboxylic acid groups. Esterification enables degrees of modification to be reached which depend on the chemical structure of the anhydride introduced and the ratio of the reagents in the feed. The copolymers obtained were characterized by spectroscopic techniques, elemental analysis, and thermal methods. These half-esters reacted in a second step with aromatic diglycidyl ethers to obtain tridimensional networks. This crosslinking reaction through the carboxylic groups was studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The water absorption of the linear and crosslinked polymers was determined gravimetrically as a function of time at room temperature. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 65:1643–1651, 1997