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Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Polycaprolactone‐ block ‐Polystyrene via Macromolecular Chain Transfer Reagents
Author(s) -
Kerep Patrick,
Ritter Helmut
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200600701
Subject(s) - polycaprolactone , copolymer , polystyrene , polymer chemistry , polymerization , moiety , styrene , reagent , chain transfer , polyester , ring opening polymerization , chemistry , caprolactone , materials science , radical polymerization , organic chemistry , polymer
ε ‐Caprolactone (CL) was enzymatically polymerized with 2‐mercaptoethanol as the initiator, both in an oil bath and under microwave (MW) irradiation. The polymerization performed under MW irradiation maintaining equal conditions led to higher yields and less formation of side products, i.e., a higher chemoselectivity was observed. The resulting polyester with a terminal SH moiety had a $\overline M _{\rm n} $ of 3 600 g · mol −1 , determined by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and was used as a chain transfer reagent. Subsequent copolymerization with styrene in different ratios led to polycaprolactone‐ block ‐polystyrene. SEC analysis and polarization microscopy of crystallized samples with different styrene contents proved the formation of block copolymers.