Reversible adhesives based on acrylate copolymer modified by caffeic acid containing boroxin

4-formyl-phenylboronic acid (FBA) and caffeic acid (CA) can combine to obtain a novel vinyl monomer containing boroxin, which was named as FBCA. Having been reduced the inhibition of phenolic hydroxyl groups, FBCA could directly copolymerize with acrylate (for instance, isobornyl acrylate (IBOA), butyl acrylate (BA), and hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA)) by free-radical polymerization to produce modified acrylate copolymer adhesive (FBCA-IBH). Compared with sole acrylate copolymer adhesive (IBH), the FBCA-IBH adhesive presents a higher thermal stability, cohesive strength, creep resistance, strain recovery, and adhesion strength to different substrate (such as carbon steel, polypropylene (PP), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)). According to the results of TGA, the initial degradation temperature of FBCA-IBH is increased by 50 °C. The creep resistance of FBCA-IBH is improved and its holding power to carbon steel is increased from 19 min to 3 h. It is eye catching that the shear strength to carbon steel could reach 9.37 MPa. Besides, this shear strength can be maintained even if after 18 cycle times, even the maximum value can achieve 14.36 MPa. The adhesion of thermoplastic adhesives to carbon steel exhibits adhesion strength comparable to that of thermoset adhesives. The reversible adhesive presents bonding strength in macro-field, not just limited in micro-field.