Andere Basterretxea, Elena Gabirondo, Coralie Jehanno
Jan 25, 2019
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0
Influential Citations
28
Citations
Journal
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
Abstract
Polyethers constitute a well-established class of polymers covering a wide range of applications from industrial manufacturing to nanomedicine. Nevertheless, their industrial implementation is limited to short chain aliphatic polyethers such as polyethylene glycol (PEO or PEG), polypropylene glycol (PPG), or polytetramethylene glycol (PTMG) produced by the ring-opening polymerization of the corresponding cyclic ethers. Herein, we report a sustainable and scalable approach for the preparation of medium and long chain aliphatic polyethers by the melt self-polycondensation of aliphatic diols in the presence of non-eutectic acid–base mixtures as organocatalyst. These organocatalysts were prepared by forming stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric complexes of methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) as confirmed by NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations. The non-stoichiometric 2:1 and 3:1 MSA:TBD molar complexes showed superior thermal stability. These non-eutectic acid–base mixtu...