Polymerization of ε-caprolactone using a montmorillonite clay as catalyst

Abstract

In the present work the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone using a proton-exchanged montmorillonite clay as initiator is reported. The influences of reaction temperature, solvent, weight ratio of initiator/monomer and reaction time on the conversion of monomer and the molecular weight are investigated. The kinetics indicated that the polymerization rate is first order with respect to monomer concentration. Mechanism studies showed that monomer was inserted into the growing chains by acyl-oxygen bond scission rather than the break of alkyl-oxygen bond. © VSP 2005.