Applications, synthesis and catalyst design for oxygenated polymers

Thesis

The main focus of this thesis is the synthesis of oxygenated block copolymers. These are attractive materials for a range of applications; however, they are typically associated with time- and labour-intensive synthetic procedures. For this reason, a more efficient one pot combination of two different polymerisation mechanisms, anhydride/epoxide ring-opening copolymerisation (ROCOP) and lactone ringopening polymerisation (ROP), with a single catalytic system was investigated. Three major advances in ‘switch’ catalysis are presented herein: (i) The use of the first chromium salen catalyst, (ii) propylene oxide was accessed as a monomer and (iii) the synthesis of block polyesters from a fully commercial feedstock featuring propylene oxide, phthalic anhydride, (rac)-lactide. With these insights, new ‘switch’ catalysts were developed and (potentially) bio-based polycarbonates were tested as future coating materials.

Authors: Stoesser, TA

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-dorgdxogv
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English