Author(s)

Kadir Demirelli, Feride Bezgin

Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Un?versty of Bitlis Eren, Bitlis, Turkey.
Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, Universty of Firat, Elazig, Turkey.

Newly designed miktoarm star-shaped copolymers made of poly[(benzyl methacrylate(BMA)-co-(ε-caprolacton)(CL)] and poly[(BMA-b-MMA-b-BMA)-co-ε-caprolacton)(CL)] were synthesized by combining ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (CL) and poly(BMA) five membered lacton fuctionalized prepared via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of BMA, and ε-CL and P(BMA-b-MMA-b-BMA) dual functionalized diblock copolymer, in the presence of tin(II) bis(2-ethylhexanoate) (Sn(Oct)2). Although lactone ended poly(benzyl methacrylate) with ε-caprolactone monomer gave ring open polymerization by Sn(Oct)2, the macromonomer itself did not give any poly- merization The macromonomers, and the miktoarm star-shaped copolymers were analyzed by FT-IR and 1H-NMR spectroscopies and GPC (gel permeation chromatograph), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC-50) and termo- gravimetric analysis (TGA-50). These copolymers exhibited the expected structure. The crystallization of star-shaped copolymers was studied by DSC. The results show that when the content of the BMA block increased, the Tm of the star-shaped block copolymer increased.

Miktoarm Star Polymer; Lacton; Ring Open Polymerization

K. Demirelli and F. Bezgin, "Synthesis and Characterization of Lactone Functional Macromonomers by End Group Deactivation and Their Use in Miktoarm Star Polymer," Open Journal of Polymer Chemistry, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2012, pp. 42-55. doi: 10.4236/ojpchem.2012.22006.