Premium
Isoselective Lactide Ring Opening Polymerisation using [2]Rotaxane Catalysts
Author(s) -
Lim Jason Y. C.,
Yuntawattattawut,
Beer Paul D.,
Williams Charlotte K.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201901592
Subject(s) - tacticity , lactide , monomer , polymerization , rotaxane , ring opening polymerization , polymer chemistry , polymer , materials science , molecule , dynamism , chemistry , organic chemistry , supramolecular chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
Polylactide (PLA) is a fully biodegradable and recyclable plastic, produced from a bio‐derived monomer: it is a circular economy plastic. Its properties depend upon its stereochemistry and isotactic PLA shows superior thermal‐mechanical performances. Here, a new means to control tacticity by exploiting rotaxane conformational dynamism is described. Dynamic achiral [2]rotaxanes can show high isoselectivity (P i =0.8, 298 K) without requiring any chiral additives and enchain by a chain end control mechanism. The organocatalytic dynamic stereoselectivity is likely applicable to other small‐molecule and polymerization catalyses.