Polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate and methacrylate via Michael-type addition

2-Hydroxyethyl acrylate was polymerized by use of few basic and/or nucleophilic initiators. The reactions proceeded via Michael-type addition of hydroxyl groups to carbon-carbon double bonds. The resulted polymers have an ether-ester chain structure and M-n values in order of up to 9000. The results were compared with those obtained previously for 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, where just oligomers having M-n of ca 1000 had been achieved.