CATIONIC COPOLYMERIZATION OF PHENYL GLYCIDYL ETHER WITH LACTONES - CHARACTERIZATION OF THE REACTION MIXTURE WITH CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHODS

This paper refers to the influence of the catalysts boron trifluoride p-methoxyaniline complex (BF3 . MA) and boron trifluoride etherate com plex (BF3 . Et2O) having different reactivity in cationic copolymeriza tion of phenyl glycidyl ether (PGE) with gamma-butyrolactone (gamma-BL ) and epsilon-caprolactone (epsilon-CL), respectively. Reactions were followed by FT-IR, HPLC and SEC. SEC with multiple detection and Two-D imensional-Chromatography HPLC/SEC were used to characterize the produ cts in view to their copolymer compositions. In the presence of BF3 . MA a preferred formation of spiroorthoesters (SOE) was observed; the p olymerization of SOE under these conditions can be neglected. In case of the more reactive BF3 . Et2O the epoxide homopolymerization strongl y competes with SOE formation, resulting in a product mixture of epoxi de homopolymers (and in the case of epsilon-CL also lactone homopolyme rs) and copolymers with low lactone content.