The polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) has become an interest in the undergraduate laboratory due to its relatively simple synthesis, ease of characterization, and biodegradability. Previous methods for the synthesis of PCL in the undergraduate laboratory have been on a large/expensive scale, and utilize difficult molding procedures.  Furthermore, these experiments do not offer much of an opportunity for analytical characterization.  We have developed a series of new experiments that allows for reduced-scale synthesis and a simple molding procedure while introducing a number of physical characterization techniques. Compared to previously reported methods, this procedure is more student friendly in an undergraduate setting, which is largely due to scale and simplicity. The objective of this procedure is to introduce students to the synthesis and characterization of biodegradable polymers.  Each student will be able to analyze class data to see the effect of varying catalyst loadings of the resulting polymer properties. There are many instrumental techniques used including: DSC, TGA, NMR and FT-IR. This experimental procedure will be implemented into the polymer chemistry laboratory curriculum at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Synthesis of polycaprolactone: A green approach with polymer analysis techniques

245th National Meeting (2013)

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