The development of inexpensive and biodegradable CO2-sol. ligands, surfactants, and phase transfer agents is an important goal in the implementation of supercrit. fluid technol.  We report here a potentially generic synthetic route to inexpensive oligo(vinyl acetate) CO2-philes for applications such as solubilization and emulsification.  These materials are shown to outperform more expensive fluorinated surfactants in particular applications.