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Preparation of Polyether Triol and Three‐Armed Polyether Triol by Tetrahydrofuran Polymerization Initiated with Heteropolyacid
Author(s) -
Chen Yu,
Zhang Guangli,
Zhang Hongzhi
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3935(20010501)202:8<1440::aid-macp1440>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - triol , ethylene oxide , polymer chemistry , chemistry , polymerization , epichlorohydrin , tetrahydrofuran , telechelic polymer , ethylene , end group , diol , methylene , molar mass distribution , organic chemistry , polymer , copolymer , catalysis , solvent
Polyether triol, containing 74.6–71.9 mol‐% oxytetramethylene moieties and 22.9–24.4 mol‐% oxyethylene moieties, was prepared in yield around 50% by tetrahydrofuran polymerization using heteropolyacid‐ethylene oxide as initiator system and 1,1,1‐trihydroxymethylenepropane (TMP) as molecular weight controller. The molecular weight distribution index of product was 1.3–1.5 and the average hydroxyl end‐group functionality was determined to be close or equal to 3. The 1 H‐NMR spectrum showed that about 1/3 hydroxyls of TMP did not react with propagating chains in the polymerization. All the hydroxyls of polyether triol were primary ones and active enough toward 4,4′‐methylene bis (phenyl isocyanate) in the preparation of polyurethane as verified by model experiment. The three‐armed polyether triol was prepared by using epichlorohydrin as promoter in stead of ethylene oxide. The remained unreacted hydroxyls of TMP were determined by 1 H‐NMR to be only 2.1–5.2 mol‐%, comparing with 24.5–29.4 mol‐% as ethylene oxide promoter was used. The average hydroxyl end‐group functionality was close to 3, the polymerization yield was around 80% and molecular weight of the three‐armed polyether triol was 3 000–4 000.