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Non‐Catalyst Synthesis of Functionalized Biodegradable Polycarbonate
Author(s) -
Feng Jun,
Wang XuLi,
He Feng,
Zhuo RenXi
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.200600774
Subject(s) - trimethylene carbonate , polymerization , polycarbonate , catalysis , ring opening polymerization , polymer , polymer chemistry , carbonate , materials science , hydrogenolysis , amphiphile , copolymer , biomaterial , chemistry , organic chemistry
The thermal ring‐opening polymerization of 5‐benzyloxy‐trimethylene carbonate (BTMC) in bulk in the absence of any catalyst resulted in high molecular weight poly(BTMC) ( $\overline M _{\rm n} $ = 80 300) and subsequent catalytic hydrogenolysis resulted in functional poly(5‐hydroxyl‐trimethylene carbonate) (PHTMC). Similar spontaneous polymerization of BTMC in the presence of PEG ( $\overline M _{\rm n} $ = 2 000) as a macroinitiator can provide amphiphilic block polymers. The results revealed that the thermal non‐catalyst (co)polymerization of BTMC is a highly attractive preparative method because of the lack of usage of toxic initiators or catalysts. Furthermore, an evaluation of the degradation and cytotoxicity of PHTMC demonstrated enhanced degradability compared to poly(trimethylene carbonate) and similar toxicity compared to PLGA, showing PHTMC to be a promising biomaterial.