Antimony ethylene glycolate and catecholate compounds: structural characterization of polyesterification catalysts
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Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
Shannon M Biros1, Brian M Bridgewater, Adriel Villeges-Estrada
1Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Abstract:
Antimony compounds are widely used as catalysts for the synthesis of the commercially important polymer poly(ethyleneterephthalate) by polycondensation of bis(hydroxyethyl)terephthalate. The precise nature of the antimony catalysts is, however, unknown. The present study has been conducted with a view to determining the nature of the catalytic species by structurally characterizing antimony ethylene glycolate compounds and related catecholate derivatives, namely [Sb(2)(OCH(2)CH(2)O)(3)](n), [Sb(OCH(2)CH(2)O)(OAc)](n), [pySb(1,2-O(2)C(6)H(4))](2)O, and [pyH][Sb(1,2-O(2)C(6)H(4))(2)].
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