A Facile Approach to Construct Novel Polyesters as Soft Midblock for Thermoplastic Elastomers

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Organic Synthesis

Background:

• Functional polycaprolactones are crucial for advanced materials.
• Developing efficient synthetic routes is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a facile synthetic strategy for novel caprolactone-based monomers (R-TO) from epoxides.
• To investigate their polymerization and copolymerization for advanced material applications.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of R-TO monomers derived from epoxides.
• Well-controlled ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of R-TO monomers.
• Sequential addition copolymerization with L-lactide (L-LA).

Main Results:

• Polyesters P(R-TO) with high molecular weights (up to 350 kDa) were synthesized.
• ABA triblock copolymers of P(L-LA) and P(MTO) were successfully prepared.
• A specific triblock copolymer exhibited excellent thermoplastic elastomer properties, including high elongation at break (1438±204%) and tensile strength (23.5±1.7 MPa).

Conclusions:

• The developed synthetic strategy provides access to functional polycaprolactones.
• The resulting polymers, particularly ABA triblock copolymers, demonstrate promising thermoplastic elastomer characteristics.
• This work offers a new pathway for designing high-performance polymeric materials.