Patent ID: 8349951

Claim:
A polymer comprising a structure comprising the formula: —R 1 —[{—S—CH 2 —CH(R 3 )—R 2 —CH(R 3 )—CH 2 —} m —S—R 1 —] n — wherein: R 1 is independently selected from a C 2-10 n-alkylene group, a C 2-6 branched alkylene group, a C 6-8 cycloalkylene group, a C 6-10 alkylcycloalkylene group, —[(—CH 2 —) p —X—] q —(—CH 2 —) r —, or —[(—CH 2 —) p —X—] q —(—CH 2 —) r —, wherein at least one —CH 2 — unit is substituted with a methyl group, wherein p is an integer having a value ranging from 2 to 6, q is an integer having a value ranging from 1 to 5, r is an integer having a value ranging from 2 to 10, and X is selected from O, S, and —NR—, wherein R is hydrogen or methyl, R 2 denotes —CH 2 —O—C(O)— R 3 is independently selected from hydrogen and an alkyl group; n is an integer having a value ranging from 1 to 60; and m is a rational number from 1 to 10; and wherein the polymer is prepared by the steps of: (1) reacting a compound comprising at least two reactive thiol groups with allyl (meth)acrylate in the presence of a basic catalyst under Michael addition reaction conditions to form a prepolymer; and (2) reacting the prepolymer in a radical-initiated addition reaction to form the polymer.