Facile Synthesis of Polymers Bearing Cyclic Carbonate Structure through Radical Solution and Precipitation Polymerizations Accompanied by Concurrent Carbon Dioxide Fixation

The radical polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was conducted under a carbon dioxide atmosphere (1 atm) in the presence of catalysts for the reaction of carbon dioxide and the oxirane group to afford the five-membered cyclic carbonate group. The degrees of the carbon dioxide fixation depended on catalysts, concentration, and solvents. In solution reaction, the slower polymerizations resulted in faster carbon dioxide fixation, due to the faster carbon dioxide fixation to GMA than to oxirane moieties in polymers. When the polymerization was conducted in 1,4-dioxane, which is a good solvent for polyGMA but a poor solvent for the analogous polymer hearing cyclic carbonate moieties, the resulting polymers were precipitated out as the progress of the polymerization and the carbon dioxide fixation. As a result, polymers could be isolated by simple filtration and rinsing with methanol. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 4 7: 3170-3176, 2009