Ring-opening polymerization of lactones initiated by diphenylzinc-coinitiator systems
- Polymer International, 42(6), p.1005-1009, 2003 .
Diphenylzinc, alone or in combination with water and butanone as coinitiators, was used as a polymerization initiator system for a variety of lactones at varying temperatures. The resulting data indicate that the course of the polymerization is greatly influenced by the lactone structure, as well as by the molar ratio of coinitiator to diphenylzinc. When used alone, diphenylzinc exhibited high activity as an initiator in ä-valerolactone polymerizations, although it was less efficient when used in the â-butyrolactone and the â-propiolactone polymerizations. Activity in the olymerization of â- lactones was increased by adding small amounts of butanone or water. It was also observed that the diphenylzinc-butanone combination was more effective than the diphenylzinc-water mixture in the polymerizations of â-butyrolactone and â-propiolactone.