Polyesters from Dilactones

Odile Dechy-Cabaret, Blanca Martin-Vaca, and Didier Bourissou 

1) A few relevant studies have been reported regarding the ROP of macrocyclic dilactones, but only poly(a-hydroxyacids) deriving from l,4-dio3ane-2,5-diones and their equivalents are considered here. 

Handbook of Ring-Opening Potymerization. Edited by P. Dubois, O. Coulembier, and J.-M. Raquez Copyright 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN 978-3-527 31953-+ 

In this chapter we present an overview of this increasingly active research field. The first section focuses on coordination polymerization with metal complexes, classified by the nature of their ancillary ligands. The spectacular achievements reported recently in organocatalyzed and stereocontrolled ROP are then presented. The third section concerns the macromolecular engineering of poly(a-hydroxyac-ids) by varying both their substitution pattern (with alternative monomers to lactide and glycolide) and their architecture (via block, star and dendritic copolymers). The well-established and rapidly emerging applications of these synthetic polyesters are discussed briefly in the last section. 

General Concepts and ROP Promoted by Metallic Catalysts/lnitiators 

---

Part 2 includes chapters on specific classes of cyclic monomers and their polymerization mechanisms and kinetics, their main (co)polymer architectures and related products, as well as current and future applications. Hence, siloxane-con-taining and sulfur-nitrogen-phosphorus-containing polymers are described in Chapters 3 and 4, respectively, while the polymerization of cyclic depsipeptides, ureas and urethanes, of polyethers and polyoxazolines, and of polyamides are detailed in Chapters 5, 6 and 7, respectively. Chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12 include details of polyesters prepared from either P-lactones, from dilactones, from larger lactones and from polycarbonates, while the polymerization of cycloalkanes is described in Chapter 13. It should be noted that, slightly out of place . Chapter 8 covers the subject of ring-opening metathesis polymerizahon. 

---