Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol.37, No.14, 2447-2455, 1999
Ring-opening metathesis polymerization of new alpha-norbornenyl poly(epsilon-caprolactone) macromonomers
Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) macromonomers capped by a polymerizable norbornene end-group have been synthesized and (co)polymerized by ring-opening metathesis with formation of graft copolymers and polymacromonomers. alpha-Norbornenyl PCL macromonomers have been synthesized by ring opening polymerization (ROP) of epsilon-caprolactone (ECL) initiated by 2-diethylaluminoxymethyl-5-norbornene. Copolymerization of these PCL macromonomers with norbornene and polymerizable derivatives has been catalyzed by the [RuCl2(p-cymene)](2) PCy3(trimethylsilyl)diazomethane complex yielding a series of poly(norbornene)-graft-poly( epsilon-caprolactone) copolymers. These new graft. copolymers have been characterized by a set of analytical methods, i.e., SEC, H-1-NMR, FTIR, DSC, and TGA. Furthermore, PCL macromonomers have been polymerized into high molecular weight comb chains of narrow molecular weight distribution (M-w/M-n = 1.10) within high yields (90%).
Keywords:ring opening metathesis polymerization;graft copolymerization;macromonomer;comb-shaped polymer