M. Perez et al., Synthesis of functional polymers by chemical modification of PECH and PECH-PEO with substituted phenolates, POLYMER, 42(1), 2001, pp. 1-8
To prepare a family of functionalized polymers, we investigated the nucleop
hilic substitution reaction of poly(epichlorohydrin) (PECH) and its 1:1 cop
olymer with ethylene oxide (PECH-PEO) with a series of substituted phenolat
es with electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups. The basic charac
ter of the phenolates involves an undesired dehydrochlorination side-reacti
on and the subsequent chain scission process. Depending on the characterist
ics of the substituent directly attached to the phenolate, polymers with di
fferent proportions of substituted and vinylic units are obtained. In most
cases, the modification is not quantitative and chloromethylated units rema
in in the final polymer. Similarly, the extent of the cleavage reaction dep
ends on the phenolate. The functional polymers have been structurally chara
cterized by C-13-NMR spectroscopy. Their thermal properties have been evalu
ated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry. (C) 2000 El
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