Zinc adipate was synthesized from zinc oxide with adipic acid by different methods. Their chemical structure and crystalline morphology were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The results showed that the zinc adipate synthesized under magnetic stirring possessed higher degree of crystallinity than that synthesized under mechanical stirring due to the different stirring strength, and therefore exhibited greater catalytic activity for the copolymerization between CO, and propylene oxide (PO). The optimum condition for the copolymerization of CO2 and PO polymer/g catalyst was afforded under optimizing copolymerization condition. NMR spectra revealed that the synthesized poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) had a highly alternating copolymer structure. DSC and TGA examinations showed that the glass transition temperature and decomposition temperature of the PPC with M-n = 41,900 Da were 27.7 and 248 degrees C, respectively. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.