Ring-opening polymerization of ɛ-caprolactone by poly(propyleneglycol) in the presence of a monomer activator

✍ Scribed by Jae Min Oh; Sang Hyo Lee; Jin Soo Son; Gilson Khang; Chun Ho Kim; Heung Jae Chun; Byoung Hyun Min; Jae Ho Kim; Moon Suk Kim

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 321 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0032-3861
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2009.08.022

✦ Synopsis

3-caprolactone) a b s t r a c t

The ring-opening polymerization of 3-caprolactone (CL) was induced by using polypropylene glycol (PPG) as an initiator in the presence of the monomer activator HCl$Et 2 O to synthesize triblock copolymers composed of PPG and poly(3-caprolactone) (PCL). The degree of CL conversion and the molecular weight of PCL increased linearly with the polymerization time or with the feed ratio of CL to PPG in the presence of HCl$Et 2 O in CH 2 Cl 2 at 25 C. The PCLs obtained had molecular weights close to the theoretical values calculated from the CL:PPG molar ratios and exhibited monomodal GPC curves with narrow polydispersity indexes. The apparent rate constant (k app ) for the polymerization of CL activated by HCl$Et 2 O was greatly affected by the ratio of HCl$Et 2 O/PPG. The activation energy for the polymerization of CL in this system was estimated to be 49.8 kJ/mol K. We successfully prepared PPG and PCL triblock copolymers using this activated monomer mechanism.