Preparation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers with High Glass-transition Temperature <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Ethylene/Dicyclopentadiene Copolymerization and Subsequent Hydrogenation

Shu-Nan Zhang; Ling-Yan Huang; Pan He; Chun-Ji Wu; Bao-Li Wang

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3534-0

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Preparation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers with High Glass-transition Temperature via Ethylene/Dicyclopentadiene Copolymerization and Subsequent Hydrogenation

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-02-13

- Preparation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers with High Glass-transition Temperature via Ethylene/Dicyclopentadiene Copolymerization and Subsequent Hydrogenation
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 3, Pages: 644-652(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
  b.School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  c.School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China
  d.School of Material Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China
- Author bio：
  
  wuchunji@ciac.ac.cn (C.J.W.)
  wang@ciac.ac.cn (B.L.W.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3534-0
  CLC：
- Received：19 November 2025，
  
  Accepted：15 December 2025，
  
  Online First：02 February 2026，
  
  Published：15 March 2026
- Accepted：
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Zhang, S. N.; Huang, L. Y.; He, P.; Wu, C. J.; Wang, B. L. Preparation of cyclic olefin copolymers with high glass-transition temperature via ethylene/dicyclopentadiene copolymerization and subsequent hydrogenation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 644–652

Shu-Nan Zhang, Ling-Yan Huang, Pan He, et al. Preparation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers with High Glass-transition Temperature via Ethylene/Dicyclopentadiene Copolymerization and Subsequent Hydrogenation[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(3): 644-652.
Zhang, S. N.; Huang, L. Y.; He, P.; Wu, C. J.; Wang, B. L. Preparation of cyclic olefin copolymers with high glass-transition temperature via ethylene/dicyclopentadiene copolymerization and subsequent hydrogenation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 644–652 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3534-0.

Shu-Nan Zhang, Ling-Yan Huang, Pan He, et al. Preparation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers with High Glass-transition Temperature via Ethylene/Dicyclopentadiene Copolymerization and Subsequent Hydrogenation[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(3): 644-652. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3534-0.

摘要

The sequential copolymerization-hydrogenation process produces saturated H-(E/DCPD) copolymers

which possess high glass-transition temperature (up to 171 °C) and optical properties comparable to commercial cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs)

offering a practical route for the large-scale production of thermally stable and low-cost COCs.

Abstract

Cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs) are highly valuable optical resins

but their product

ions on industry are fully limited by the monomer norbornene. Although ethylene/dicyclopentadiene (E/DCPD) copolymers provide a cost-effective alternative to commercially available COCs because of using low-cost DCPD as cyclic olefin monomer

these inherent unsaturated double bonds on E/DCPD copolymers cause low heat resistance

oxidation

and crosslinking during processing and storage. And E/DCPD copolymers usually showed lower glass-transition temperature (

) compared with commercially available COCs. In this study

we studied the E-DCPD copolymerization catalyzed by a scandium complex and the sequential hydrogenation catalyzed by a nickel compound to prepare saturated copolymers H-(E/DCPD). The polymerization activities are high up to 5.86

$$\times $$

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https://html.publish.founderss.cn/rc-pub/api/common/picture?pictureId=100470368&type=

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g/(mol

·h)

and the resultant H-(E/DCPD) copolymers showed narrow polymer dispersity index (PDI=1.5–2.0). By changing the polymerization conditions

a series of H-(E/DCPD) copolymers with tunable DCPD incorporation (28.4 mol%–44.9 mol%) and a wide range of

(123–171 °C) were obtained. H-(E/DCPD) copolymers exhibited excellent optical properties (transparency

90%

refractive index of 1.543)

similar to those of commercial COCs

making them an alternative for high-performance optical applications. This method solves the problems of traditional E/DCPD copolymers and provides a practical way to produce stable and low-cost COCs

and is comparable with commercially available COC resins.

关键词

Keywords

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⁰

Preparation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers with High Glass-transition Temperature via Ethylene/Dicyclopentadiene Copolymerization and Subsequent Hydrogenation

DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3534-0

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references