The Influence of Crown Ether and Alcohol on Unsaturation and Molar Mass of Poly(propylene oxide)s Prepared by Use of Potassium t-Butoxide: Reinvestigation of Chain Transfer Reactions

Abstract

Potassium t-butoxide dissolved in tetrahydrofuran effectively initiates homogeneous polymerization of propylene oxide at room temperature. Unsaturation and molar mass (Mn) of the polymers prepared depend on the presence of additives, such as macrocyclic ligand 18-crown-6 (L) and t-butanol. Application of the ligand alone results in distinct increase of unsaturation and decrease of Mn, whereas use of t-BuOH leads to simultaneous decrease of unsaturation and Mn. Activation of t-BuOK/t-BuOH system with the ligand causes further decrease of unsaturation, that is, from 12.0 to 3.5 mol % for OK/OH (1/3) and OK/OH/L (1/3/2) systems, respectively. Unexpectedly, Mn of the polymers obtained does not practically change (~4800). This result differs from that reported earlier for neat PO polymerization initiated potassium 1-methoxy-2-propoxide/1-methoxy-2-propanol, in which in the presence of the same ligand Mn increases to ~12 400 for the same ratio of reagents. The mechanism of studied processes was discussed.