Synthesis and characterization of ladder-like copolymethyl-epoxysilsesquioxane

A new kind of copolymethyl-epoxysilsesquioxane (CPMES) was synthesized for the first time by hydrosilation reaction of allyl glycidyl ether (AGE) with the ladder-like polymethylhydrosilsesquioxane (Me-H-T) in the presence of dicyclopentadienylplatinum dichloride (Cp2PtCl2) as catalyst. The graft pol ymer was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), H-1-NMR. Si-29-NMR, X -ray diffraction (XRD), gel-permeation chromatography (GPC), vapour pressur e osmometry (VPO), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanni ng calorimetry (DSC). The results indicate that CPMES possesses good solubi lity in organic solvents, and a greatly improved thermostability compared w ith polymethyl-epoxysiloxane with a single backbone. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.