Vinyl acetate

Vinyl acetate is the organic compound with the formula CH3COOCH=CH2. This colorless liquid with a pungent odor is the precursor to an important polymer polyvinyl acetate. Like other industrially significant compounds, vinyl acetate has numerous names and acronymns.

Preparation
The major industrial route involves the reaction of ethylene and acetic acid with oxygen in the presence of a palladium catalyst. It is also prepared by the gas-phase addition of acetic acid to acetylene.

Polymerization
It can be polymerized, either by itself to make polyvinyl acetate or with other monomers to prepare copolymers such as ethylene-vinyl acetate. Due to the instability of the radical, attempts to control the polymerization via most 'living/controlled' radical processes have proved problematic. However, RAFT (or more specifically MADIX) polymerization offers a convenient method of controlling the synthesis of PVA by the addition of a xanthate chain transfer agent.

Other derivatives
Vinyl acetate undergoes many of the reactions anticipated for an alkene and an ester. Bromine adds to give the dibromide. Hydrogen halides add to give 1-haloethyl acetates, which cannot be generate by other methods because of the non-availability of the corresponding halo-alcohols. Acetic acid adds in the presence of palladium catalysts to give ethylidene diacetate, CH3CH(OAc)2. It undergoes transesterification with a variety of carboxylic acids. The alkene also undergoes Diels-Alder and 2+2 cycloadditions.