Highly soluble alternating 1-olefin/carbon monoxide copolymers with olefin monomers (H2C=CH-R) containing 4, 5, 6, 10, 14, 16 and 18 C-atoms in the R-substituents were prepared by the use of dicationic palladium(II) phosphine catalysts and an optimized amount of methanol as activator. In terpolymerization experiments the influence of icosene-CO or octadecene-CO units, distributed randomly along a propene-CO or ethene-CO copolymer backbone, on molecular weight, glass transition temperature and on the surface polarity of films casted from solution has been investigated. As the length of the alpha-olefin side chain increases, the glass transition temperature (T-g) of the copolymer is reduced from room temperature to almost -60 degrees C. For octadecene-CO and icosene-CO copolymers side chain crystallization occurs, leading to elastic materials. Contact angle measurements, performed on water drops located on the surface of selected co- and terpolymer films demonstrate the wide range of surface polarity which can be covered by simple copolymerization of polar CO groups with apolar alkenes.
