The development of new polymer architectures to meet 21st century needs is driven by advances in synthetic methodology and catalysis. Specifically, as the world moves toward sustainability so should our materials. However, special note should be taken to do so without compromising physical properties. Copolymerization is a classical and powerful strategy for controlling structure property relationships in polymeric materials. In this work, we have discovered a method for the general copolymerization of lactones and epoxides using a simple catalytic route to yield novel degradable materials. The catalyst itself is easy to synthesize and produces ultra-high molecular weight copolymers of lactones and epoxides up to 10 Mg/mol. ε-Caprolactone and DL-lactide were chosen as representative lactones, which were each copolymerized with a range of epoxides consisting of ethylene oxide, epichlorohydrin, propylene oxide, and butylene oxide. Reactivity ratios were determined for the copolymerization of lactide and propylene oxide by the method reported by Meyer and Lowry. The reactivity ratios determined were consistent with a gradient copolymer with propylene oxide (PO) being the more preferred monomer, and lactide (LA) being less preferred: rPO = 2.22 ± 0.13, rLA = 0.21 ± 0.02.

Copolymerization of epoxides and lactones to ultrahigh molecular weight with an aluminum-chelate catalyst

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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