TY - JOUR
T1 - Using Triethylborane to Manipulate Reactivity Ratios in Epoxide-Anhydride Copolymerization: Application to the Synthesis of Polyethers with Degradable Ester Functions
AU - Chidara, Vamshi Krishna
AU - Gnanou, Yves
AU - Feng, Xiaoshuang
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-01-18
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): BAS/1/1374-01-01
Acknowledgements: This research was funded by KAUST under baseline funding (BAS/1/1374-01-01).
PY - 2022/1/11
Y1 - 2022/1/11
N2 - The anionic ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of epoxides, namely of ethylene oxide (EO), with anhydrides (AH) generally produces strictly alternating copolymers. With triethylborane (TEB)-assisted ROCOP of EO with AH, statistical copolymers of high molar mass including ether and ester units could be obtained. In the presence of TEB, the reactivity ratio of EO (rEO), which is normally equal to 0 in its absence, could be progressively raised to values lower than 1 or higher than 1. Conditions were even found to obtain rEO equal or close to 1. Samples of P(EO-co-ester) with minimal compositional drift could be synthesized; upon basic degradation of their ester linkages, these samples afforded poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) diol samples of narrow molar mass distribution. In other cases where rEO were lower or higher than 1, the PEO diol samples eventually isolated after degradation exhibited a broader distribution of molar masses because of the compositional drift of initial P(EO-co-ester) samples.
AB - The anionic ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of epoxides, namely of ethylene oxide (EO), with anhydrides (AH) generally produces strictly alternating copolymers. With triethylborane (TEB)-assisted ROCOP of EO with AH, statistical copolymers of high molar mass including ether and ester units could be obtained. In the presence of TEB, the reactivity ratio of EO (rEO), which is normally equal to 0 in its absence, could be progressively raised to values lower than 1 or higher than 1. Conditions were even found to obtain rEO equal or close to 1. Samples of P(EO-co-ester) with minimal compositional drift could be synthesized; upon basic degradation of their ester linkages, these samples afforded poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) diol samples of narrow molar mass distribution. In other cases where rEO were lower or higher than 1, the PEO diol samples eventually isolated after degradation exhibited a broader distribution of molar masses because of the compositional drift of initial P(EO-co-ester) samples.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/674970
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/2/466
U2 - 10.3390/molecules27020466
DO - 10.3390/molecules27020466
M3 - Article
C2 - 35056781
SN - 1420-3049
VL - 27
SP - 466
JO - Molecules
JF - Molecules
IS - 2
ER -