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Direct Cyclodextrin‐Mediated Ring Opening Polymerization of ϵ‐Caprolactone in the Presence of Yttrium Trisphenolate Catalyst
Author(s) -
Li Xin,
Zhu Yinghong,
Ling Jun,
Shen Zhiquan
Publication year - 2012
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.201100848
Subject(s) - ring opening polymerization , dispersity , polymerization , caprolactone , monomer , cyclodextrin , polymer chemistry , yttrium , materials science , molar mass distribution , chemistry , polymer , composite material , organic chemistry , oxide , metallurgy
Unmodified β‐cyclodextrin has been directly used to initiate ring‐opening polymerization of ϵ‐caprolactone in the presence of yttrium trisphenolate. Well‐defined cyclodextrin (CD)‐centered star‐shaped poly(ϵ‐caprolactone)s have been successfully synthesized containing definite average numbers of arms ( N arm = 4–6) and narrow polydispersity indexes (below 1.10). The number‐average molecular weight ( $\overline{M}_{\rm n,NMR}$ ) and average molecular weight per arm ( $\overline{M}_{\rm n,arm}$ ) are controlled by the feeding molar ratio of monomer to initiator. The prepared star‐PCL with $\overline{M}_{\rm n,NMR}$ of 2.7 × 10 3 is in fully amorphous and that with $\overline{M}_{\rm n,NMR}$ of 13.3 × 10 3 is crystallized. In addition, the obtained poly(e‐caprolactone) (PCL) stars with various molecular weights have different solubilities in methanol and tetrahydrofuran, which can be applied for further modifications.