CO AS COMONOMER.

The author outlines the four points of interest that copolymers of carbon monoxide with olefins have aroused. First, as a comonomer, it is hard to find anything as inexpensive as carbon monoxide. Second, the carbonyl chromophore makes a copolymer more photodegradable than the corresponding polyolefins. Third, the presence of the reactive carbonyl group should make olefin-carbon monoxide copolymers biodegradable, an attractive prospect in the context of environmental problems. Finally, because of the ease with which the carbonyl group can be chemically modified, the polyketones should be excellent starting materials for other types of functionalized polymers with specialized properties.