Anionic polymerization of hexafluoropropylene oxide using hexafluoropropylene oligomer

Abstract

Anionic polymerization of hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) was investigated under various reaction conditions such as various hexafluoropropylene (HFP) oligomers composed of dimer and trimer, reaction temperatures, and feeding rates of hexafluoropropylene oxide monomer. HFP oligomer was synthesized from cesium fluoride (CsF) and HFP in tetraethyleneglycol dimethylether (TG). Under 5 g of CsF, 200 g of HFP, 10 g of TG, and reaction temperature 30 °C, HFP dimer content in oligomer was relatively increased. HFPO oligomer with a high molecular weight (Mw 3600) was synthesized in conditions of reaction temperature 0 °C, HFP oligomer with 35.1% of dimer, and 1.85 g/min of HFPO feeding rate. Otherwise, chain transfer was increased under unoptimized reaction conditions. Consequently, it was found that reaction conditions impact chain propagation and chain transfer in the anionic polymerization of HFPO.