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Updated: Jun 29, 2025
Depolymerizable Olefinic Polymers Based on Fused-Ring Cyclooctene Monomers
Published on: December 16, 2022
Synthesis of Polyether, Poly(Ether Carbonate) and Poly(Ether Ester) Polyols Using Double Metal Cyanide Catalysts
Eun-Gyeong Lee1, Chinh-Hoang Tran1, Ju-Yeong Heo1
1School of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busandaehag-ro 63-2, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
We developed a series of Zn(II)-Co(III) double metal cyanide (DMC) catalysts with exceptional activity for the ring-opening polymerization of various cyclic monomers by employing diverse organophosphorus compounds as complexing agents (CAs). The chemical structure and composition of DMC catalysts were investigated by commonly used analysis such as infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, and elemental analysis combining with in situ NMR analysis to determine the complexation types of organophosphorus compounds the catalyst framework. The resulting catalysts exhibited very high turnover frequencies (up to 631.4 min-1) in the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of propylene oxide and good efficiency for the ROP of ε-caprolactone. The resultant polyester polyols are suitable to use as an macroinitiator to produce well-defined poly(ester ether) triblock copolymers of 1800-6600 g mol-1 and dispersity of 1.16-1.37. Additionally, the DMC catalysts bearing organophosphorus compounds CAs exhibited remarkable selectivity for the copolymerization of PO with CO2, yielding poly(ether carbonate) polyols with carbonate contents up to 34.5%. This study contributes to the development of efficient DMC catalytic systems that enable the synthesis of high-quality polyols for various applications.
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