Ring-opening polymerization termination

Even within the small numbers of studies conducted to date, we are already seeing potentially dramatic effects. Free radical polymerization proceeds at a much faster rate and there is already evidence that both the rate of propagation and the rate of termination are effected. Whole polymerization types - such as ring-opening polymerization to esters and amides, and condensation polymerization of any type (polyamides, polyesters, for example) - have yet to be attempted in ionic liquids. This field is in its infancy and we look forward to the coming years with great anticipation. 

Thus, the ring-opening polymerization of 2-methyl-2-oxazoline followed by the treatment of the resulting oxazolinium propagating end group with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane produced successfully triethoxysilyl-terminated poly-oxazoline as shown in Scheme 3 [29]. 

Preparation and characteristics of ABA type polycaprolactone-b-polydimethyl-siloxane block copolymers have been recently reported 289). In this study, ring-opening polymerization of e-caprolactone was achieved in melt, using a hydroxybutyl terminated PSX as the initiator and a catalytic amount of stannous octoate. Reactions were completed in two steps as shown in Reaction Scheme XIX. 

An alternate way to make block copolymers involving PDMS blocks 124,125) is to have these chains fitted with epoxide functions at chain end, and to react them with a vinylic or dienic polymer carrying terminal COOH functions. Sequential addition of monomers has also been used, the ring opening polymerization of the cyclic trimer (D3) being initiated by the anionic site of a living polymer126). 

Recently, Cohn and Salomon synthesized and characterized a series of PLCL thermoplastic bioelastomers by two-step synthesis procedure. First, ring-opening polymerization of L-lactide initiated by the hydroxyl terminal groups of the PCL chain. Second, chain extension polymerization of these PLA-PCL-PLA triblocks initiated by the hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDl). 

An alcohol could initiate the ring-opening polymerization of lactones by lipase catalyst ( initiator method ). In the lipase CA-catalyzed polymerization of DDL using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate as initiator, the methacryloyl group was quantitatively introduced at the polymer terminal, yielding the methacryl-type polyester macromonomer [98]. This methodology was expanded to synthesis of co-alkenyl- and alkynyl-type macromonomers by using 5-hexen-l-ol and 5-hexyn-l-ol as initiator. 

Since it was shown that free radical ring-opening polymerization (2) made it possible to introduce functional groups, such as esters C3j, carbonates (4), thioesters (5), and amides (6), into the backbone of an addition polymer, it was reasoned that simple hydrolysis would produce the desired oligomers that could be terminated with various combinations of hydroxyl, amino, thiol, and carboxylic acid groups. 

The cationic ring-opening polymerization of epichlorohydrin in conjunction with a glycol or water as a modifier produced hydroxyl-terminated epichlorohydrin (HTE) liquid polymers (1-2). Hydroxyl-terminated polyethers of other alkylene oxides (3 4), oxetane and its derivatives (5 6), and copolymers of tetrahydrofuran (7-15) have also been reported. These hydroxyl-terminated polyethers are theoretically difunctional and used as reactive prepolymers. 

SPOCC resin is based on the cross-linking of long-chain Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)terminally substituted with oxetane by cationic ring-opening polymerization. 

Kim et al. [67] recently reported the synthesis of heterometallic chiral polymer (salen) Co-(Al, Ga, ln)Cl3 complexes 26-32 (Figure 10) and their use in the HKR of racemic epoxides. Polymeric salen catalysts showed very high reactivity and enantioselectivity at substantially lower catalyst loadings for the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxide to obtain the enantio-enriched products. The performance of catalysts is retained on multiple-use and do not suffer the problems of solubility and deactivation (Scheme 5). 

Another approach is to use an initiator for ATRP that produces a polymer with a functional group capable of initiating a non-ATRP polymerization. ATRP polymerization of methyl methacrylate with 2,2,2-tribromoethanol produces an HO-terminated poly(methyl methacrylate). The hydroxyl group acts as an initiator in the presence of triethyl aluminum for the ring-opening polymerization of caprolactone. 

Some cationic ring-opening polymerizations take place without termination and are reversible. Oxirane and oxetane polymerizations are seldom reversible, but polymerizations of larger-sized rings such as tetrahydrofuran are often reversible. The description of reversible ROP is presented below [Afshar-Taromi et al., 1978 Beste and Hall, 1964 Kobayashi et al., 1974 Szwarc, 1979]. It is also applicable to other reversible polymerizations such as those of alkene and carbonyl monomers. The propagation-depropagation equilibrium can be expressed by... 

---