Novel heterocyclic synthesis and investigation on radiation‐grafted low‐density polyethylene with 2‐N‐vinylpyrrolidone

Radiation‐induced graft polymerization of low‐density polyethylene with N‐vinylpyrrolidone, LDPE‐g‐PNVP, was used as a starting material for the synthesis of polyfunctionally substituted heterocyclic products. Thus, LDPE‐g‐PNVP reacts with ylidenemalononitrile derivatives to give the Michael addition products. In multistep reaction, LDPE‐g‐PNVP reacts with N,N‐dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal (DMFDMA), hydrazine hydrate and malononitrile, respectively, to give a hydropyrrolopyridazine derivative. The latter could also be prepared via the reaction of LDPE‐g‐PNVP with DMFDMA, followed by treating with cyanoacetohydrazide. Also, LDPE‐g‐PNVP reacts with malononitrile to give an adduct product, dimer malononitrile derivative 13. The latter reacts with sulfur element to afford the thiophene derivative. Furthermore, this adduct reacts with hydrazine hydrate to isolate the original starting material, LDPE‐g‐PNVP, and aminopyridine derivative. The resulted films were characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy, ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H‐NMR) mass spectroscopy, elemental analysis, swelling behavior, and electron scanning microscope. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 2963–2970, 1999