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Gel permeation chromatography study of active centers in propylene oxide polymerization catalyzed by C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 , C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 –CaSO 4 , C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 –crown ether, and C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 –CaSO 4 –crown ether systems
Author(s) -
Huang Mei,
Feng Linxian,
Hu Gengyuan
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.11461
Subject(s) - propylene oxide , polymerization , gel permeation chromatography , catalysis , molar mass distribution , polymer chemistry , epoxide , polymer , ether , chemistry , materials science , copolymer , organic chemistry , ethylene oxide
Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is widely used to measure the molecular weights of linear polymers. A detailed analysis of high‐quality GPC data is an important source of information about the kinetics of a polymerization reaction. The living polymerization of epoxide demonstrates that the Poisson function is suitable for a molecular weight distribution description of polyether produced with catalysts containing a single type of active center. Therefore, poly(propylene oxide)s obtained by different catalytic systems, including C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 , C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 –CaSO 4 , C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 –crown ether, and C 3 H 5 O 3 K 3 –CaSO 4 –crown ether, were characterized by GPC. The peaks obtained by GPC were resolved with a multi‐Poisson distribution function. This signifies that there might be multiple active sites instead of single site in these catalytic systems. The addition of calcium sulfate to the catalytic systems not only increased the molecular weight of the polyether but also effected the formation of the active sites. Furthermore, the polymerization of propylene oxide was processed in the presence of the aforementioned catalytic systems. Much useful information concerning the kinetic process of the polymerization was obtained from the GPC data with computer analysis. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 2100–2105, 2003