Copolymerization of carbon dioxide and propylene oxide using zinc adipate as catalyst

Abstract

AbstractZinc adipate was synthesized from zinc oxide with adipic acid by different methods. Their chemical structure and crystalline morphology were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WXRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The results showed that the zinc adipate synthesized under magnetic stirring possessed higher degree of crystallinity than that synthesized under mechanical stirring due to the different stirring strength, and therefore exhibited greater catalytic activity for the copolymerization between CO2 and propylene oxide (PO). The optimum condition for the copolymerization of CO2 and PO was also investigated. Very high catalytic activity of 110.4 g polymer/g catalyst was afforded under optimizing copolymerization condition. NMR spectra revealed that the synthesized poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) had a highly alternating copolymer structure. DSC and TGA examinations showed that the glass transition temperature and decomposition temperature of the PPC with Mn = 41,900 Da were 27.7 and 248°C, respectively. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 200–206, 2006