Effect of composition and structure of ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer on its alcoholysis kinetics: A combined experimental and DFT study

[Display omitted] •Quantitatively measured the alcoholysis kinetics in terms of triads in EVA.•Proposed empirical model correlating ethylene content of EVA with alcoholysis rate,•Demonstrated the self-acceleration phenomenon in EVA alcoholysis.•Compared the reactivities of different triads by computational methods.•Revealed the effect of neighboring hydroxyl group on self-acceleration phenomenon. The alcoholysis process of ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) is both important and complex. In this work, we conduct experimental and computational investigations to examine the alcoholysis kinetics and mechanism of EVA with an ethylene content if less than 50 mol%. Our findings indicate that the overall structure of EVA polymer chain has little effect on the alcoholysis rate. However, the local structure of the acetate group, particularly its association with the ethylene content, significantly affects the overall alcloholysis. To predict the influence of ethylene content on the overall rate constant, we propose an empirical model based on detailed kinetic studies of triads. Additionally, we discover a self-acceleration phenomenon in EVA alcoholysis, although it is less pronounced compared to polyvinyl acetate. Furthermore, we employed quantum chemical calculation using density functional theory (DFT) to confirm the effect of structure on EVA alcoholysis. Notably, we investigate, for the first time, the influence of neighboring hydroxyl group on self-acceleration phenomenon through theoretical calculations. This work offers valuable insight into EVA alcoholysis and may serve as a guide for exploring its mechanism and designing processes for producing EVA related polymer materials.