Ring-opening polymerization of cyclic carbonates by alcohol-acid catalyst

Abstract

Ring-opening reactions of 1,3-dioxepan-2-one (1) and 1,3-dioxan-2-one (2) with several alcohols were examined. The reactions proceeded without trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in low conversions, while they proceeded smoothly with TFA to afford the ring-opened adducts and oligomers. Ring-opening polymerizations of 1 and 2 were also carried out by alcohol–acid catalysts to afford the corresponding polycarbonates (Mn = 2500−6800). The molecular weights increased with increase of the conversions of 1 and 2. The observed polymerization rates of 1 and 2 were determined as 24.4 × 10−6 and 0.8 × 10−6 s−1, respectively. Mechanistic aspects were studied by NMR spectroscopy. The methylene protons α and β to the carbonate moieties shifted to lower fields in 0.06–0.11 ppm in the 1H-NMR spectra by the addition of TFA. Downfield shifts of the carbonyl carbon signals of 1 and 2 were observed in 3.94–4.15 ppm in the 13C-NMR spectra. These results strongly suggest that the cyclic carbonates are activated by TFA. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. A Polym. Chem. 36: 2463–2471, 1998