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Copolymerization of PO/CO2 and Lactide by a Dinuclear Salen-Cr(III) Complex: Gradient and Random Copolymers with Modificable Microstructure

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Abstract

Copolymerization of propylene oxide (PO)/carbon dioxide (CO2) and lactide (LA) is achievable to form new copolymers, combining the advantages of both poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and polylactide (PLA). In this study, we designed a dinuclear Salen-Cr(III) complex, which showed higher efficiency for copolymerization of PO/CO2 and LA than that of mononuclear Salen-Cr(III) complex. Besides, we successfully obtained gradient and random copolymers of PPC-PLA in one pot. Furthermore, by adjusting reaction temperature, block ratios of PPC/PLA in copolymers were controllable (block ratio of PPC/PLA=1.0 at 40 °C, while block ratio of PPC/PLA=0.5 at room temperature). While increasing the reaction temperature to 60 °C, conversion of LA was much faster than that of PO so that gradient copolymers were obtained.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFA1501700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Basic Science Center Program (No. 51988102) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52073272).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China

    Zhuang-Zhuang Liang, Xiang Li, Chen-Yang Hu, Ran-Long Duan, Xian-Hong Wang, Xuan Pang & Xue-Si Chen

  2. School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Zhuang-Zhuang Liang, Xuan Pang & Xue-Si Chen

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  1. Zhuang-Zhuang Liang
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  2. Xiang Li
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  3. Chen-Yang Hu
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  4. Ran-Long Duan
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  5. Xian-Hong Wang
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  6. Xuan Pang
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  7. Xue-Si Chen
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Correspondence to Xuan Pang or Xue-Si Chen.

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Copolymerization of PO/CO2 and Lactide by a Dinuclear Salen-Cr(III) Complex: Gradient and Random Copolymers with Modificable Microstructure

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Liang, ZZ., Li, X., Hu, CY. et al. Copolymerization of PO/CO2 and Lactide by a Dinuclear Salen-Cr(III) Complex: Gradient and Random Copolymers with Modificable Microstructure. Chin J Polym Sci 40, 1028–1033 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2727-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2727-z

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