Syntheses of Polyesters from Succinic Anhydride and Various Diols Catalyzed by Metal Triflates

✍ Scribed by Takao Yashiro; Hans R. Kricheldorf; Saskia Huijser

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 341 KB
• Volume: 210
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1352
• DOI: 10.1002/macp.200900189

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Succinic anhydride (SuAh) was polymerized with various α,ω‐alkanediols from 1,3‐propanediol up to 1,10‐decanediol. Most polycondensations were conducted in bulk at temperatures of 80 °C with bismuth triflate as catalyst and number average molecular weights ($\overline M _{\rm n} {\rm s}$, uncorrected SEC data) up to 35 000 Da were obtained. Polycondensations of SuAh with 1,6‐hexanediol were also catalyzed with aluminum, tin(II), scandium, lanthanium, samarium, and hafnium triflate. Whereas, poor results were achieved with La‐triflate, aluminum and tin(II) triflate yielded $\overline M _{\rm n} {\rm s}$ comparable to those obtained with Bi‐triflate. With exception of the basic lanthanum triflate, all other catalysts generated small amounts of ether groups. The MALDI‐TOF mass spectra proved that the molecular weights depended on the conversion and on the extent of cyclization. The polycondensations of 1,4‐butanediol at temperatures up to 120 °C were affected by the formation of tetrahydrofuran, and even with an excess of the diol $\overline M _{\rm n} {\rm s}$ <10 000 Da were not obtained. Yet, BiCl~3~ and Bi‐triflate catalyzed polycondensations in refluxing decalin gave satisfactory results ($\overline M _{\rm n} {\rm s}$ ≈ 30 000 Da, uncorrected SEC data).

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