Zinc Glutarate Catalyzed Synthesis and Biodegradability of Poly(carbonate‐co‐ester)s from CO2, Propylene Oxide, and ϵ‐Caprolactone

Abstract

AbstractA zinc glutarate (ZnGA) catalyst was prepared from the reaction of zinc oxide and glutaric acid in dry toluene. ZnGA was found to exhibit a catalytic activity for the copolymerization of carbon dioxide (CO2) and propylene oxide (PO) and the homopolymerization of PO but to reveal no catalytic activity for the homopolymerization of ϵ‐caprolactone (CL). The ZnGA‐catalyzed polymerization was extended for the terpolymerization of CO2 with PO and CL, producing poly(propylene carbonate‐co‐ϵ‐caprolactone)s (PPCCLs) with a reasonably high molecular weight in high yields. In the terpolymerization, PO and CL were used as both co‐monomers and reaction media, after the reaction completed, the excess co‐monomers were easily recovered and reused in the next terpolymerization batch. For the synthesized polymers, enzymatic and biological degradability were investigated.