Issue 93, 2014

Poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) copolymers prepared using bis-thioetherphenolate group 4 metal complexes: synthesis, characterization and morphology

Abstract

Titanium and zirconium complexes 1–3 (1 = (t-BuOS)2Ti(O-i-Pr)2; 2 = (t-BuOS)2Zr(O-t-Bu)2; 3 = (CumOS)2Zr(O-t-Bu)2) supported by two phenolate bidentate ligands (t-BuOS-H = 4,6-di-tert-butyl-2-phenylsulfanylphenol and CumOS-H = 4,6-di-cumyl-2-phenylsulfanylphenol) promoted the copolymerization of L-lactide with ε-caprolactone. The reactivity displayed by the two monomers during the copolymerization experiments and the microstructure disclosed by 13C NMR analysis indicated a gradient distribution of the two monomers along the polymer chain. Copolymers with high ε-caprolactone content showed a large scale formation of crystalline spherulites prone to perfection of the crystallinity upon thermal annealing at 50 °C. Differently L-lactide rich copolymers revealed a thin film morphology consisting of small rigid domains of L-lactide segments of about 15 nm embedded in a soft matrix of the counterpart. Copolymers with comparable mole fractions of the two monomers were entirely amorphous.

Graphical abstract: Poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) copolymers prepared using bis-thioetherphenolate group 4 metal complexes: synthesis, characterization and morphology

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Sep 2014
Accepted
29 Sep 2014
First published
29 Sep 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 51262-51267

Poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) copolymers prepared using bis-thioetherphenolate group 4 metal complexes: synthesis, characterization and morphology

F. Della Monica, E. Luciano, A. Buonerba, A. Grassi, S. Milione and C. Capacchione, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 51262 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA10255J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements