New Star-Shaped Polyether-Pentols (PEPOs) for Fabrication of Crosslinked Polyurethanes-Synthesis and Characterization

Justyna Jurek-Suliga; Zbigniew Grobelny; Sylwia Golba; Hubert Okła; Katarzyna Bednarczyk

doi:10.3390/polym13132150

New Star-Shaped Polyether-Pentols (PEPOs) for Fabrication of Crosslinked Polyurethanes-Synthesis and Characterization

Polymers (Basel). 2021 Jun 29;13(13):2150. doi: 10.3390/polym13132150.

Authors

Justyna Jurek-Suliga¹, Zbigniew Grobelny², Sylwia Golba¹, Hubert Okła¹, Katarzyna Bednarczyk²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Engineering Materials, University of Silesia, 41-500 Chorzow, Poland.
² Institute of Chemistry, University of Silesia, 40-007 Katowice, Poland.

Abstract

Polyether-pentols (PEPOs) were synthesized from glycidyl ethers and butylene oxide with the application of tripotassium salts of 2,2,6,6-tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)cyclohexanol (HMCH) activated 18C6 for ring-opening polymerization (ROP). The construction of the applied initiator system reflects the ability of crown ether to influence the degree of ion-pair separation with an increased activating effect. As a result formation of bi- or trimodal polymers was observed with molar masses in the range of (M_n = 1200-6000). The observed multi-fraction composition is prescribed to the formation of ionic aggregates with different reactivities during polymerization. The mechanism of the studied processes is discussed. The obtained PEPOs served for a crosslinked PUR synthesis, for which the hydrogen bond index for coupling of hard segments was calculated. Additionally, the range of phase separation was calculated that was higher for PUR-containing aromatic rings as the substituent.

Keywords: ROP; macropentols; molecular engineering; oxiranes anionic polymerization; polymer synthesis; potassium hydroxyalkoxides.