AUTHOR=Kiriratnikom Jiraya , Robert Carine , Guérineau Vincent , Venditto Vincenzo , Thomas Christophe M. 

TITLE=Stereoselective Ring-Opening (Co)polymerization of β-Butyrolactone and ε-Decalactone Using an Yttrium Bis(phenolate) Catalytic System

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2019.00301

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2019.00301

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>An effective route for ring-opening copolymerization of β-butyrolactone (BBL) with ε-decalactone (ε-DL) is reported. Microstructures of the block copolymers characterized by <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectroscopy revealed syndiotactic-enriched poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) blocks. Several di- and triblock copolymers (PDL-<italic>b</italic>-PHB and PDL-<italic>b</italic>-PHB-<italic>b</italic>-PDL, respectively) were successfully synthesized by sequential addition of the monomers using (salan)Y(III) complexes as catalysts. The results from MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry confirmed the presence of the copolymers. Moreover, thermal properties of the block copolymers were also investigated and showed that the microphase separation of PDL-<italic>b</italic>-PHB copolymers into PHB- and PDL-rich domains has an impact on the glass transition temperatures of both blocks.</p>