Well-defined triblock copolymers of polyethylene with polycaprolactone or polystyrene using a novel difunctional polyhomologation initiator

Nikos Hadjichristidis, Reem Alshumrani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

α,ω-Dihydroxy polyethylene was synthesized by polyhomologation of dimethylsulfoxonium methylide with 9-thexyl-9-BBN (9-BNN: 9-Borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane), a novel difunctional initiator produced from 9-BBN and 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene, with two active and one blocked sites, followed by hydrolysis/oxidation. The terminal hydroxy groups were either used directly as initiators, in the presence of 1-tert-butyl-2,2,4,4,4-pentakis(dimethylamino)-2λ5,4λ5-catenadi(phosphazene) (t-BuP2), for the ring opening polymerization of ɛ-caprolactone to afford polycaprolactone-b-polyethylene-b-polycaprolactone (PCL-b-PE-b-PCL) or after transformation to atom transfer radical polymerization initiating sites, for the polymerization of styrene to produce polystyrene-b-polyethylene-b-polystyrene (PSt-b-PE-b-PSt) triblock copolymers. Molecular characterization by 11B, 13C and 1H NMR as well as FTIR, and high temperature GPC (HT-GPC) confirmed the well-defined nature of the synthesized new difunctional initiator and triblock copolymers. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to determine the melting points of PE and PCL.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5427-5432
Number of pages6
JournalPolym. Chem.
Volume8
Issue number35
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: Research reported in this publication was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

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