Reactions and polymerization of hexa-[3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenoxy]cyclotriphosphazene: A new method for the preparation of soluble cyclomatrix phosphazene polymers

Novel cyclomatrix phosphazene-containing polyester polymers were synthesize d through the reaction of a polyhydroxylated cyclotriphosphazene and a bifu nctional acid chloride. To demonstrate the chemistry of the free hydroxyl o f hexa-[3-tertbutyl-4-hydroxyphenoxy] cyclotriphosphazene, nucleophilic dis placement reactions were performed with both acetic anhydride and alkyl chl orides. This work compares favorably to literature data for the chemistry o f hexa- [4-hydroxyphenoxy] cyclotriphosphazene, whose hydroxyl is not hinde red by an adjacent substituent. The hindered site of hexa- [3-tert-butyl-4- hydroxyphenoxy] cyclotriphosphazene was found to react with bidentate acid chlorides to yield new high polymers. The phosphazene-containing polyesters were observed to have good solubility in polar organic solvents. Character ization of these new materials was performed using dilute solution laser Li ght scattering techniques, thermal analysis, and NMR spectroscopy. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.