Synthesis of organic-inorganic star-shaped polyoxazolines using octafunctional silsesquioxane as an initiator

Hybrid star-shaped polyoxazolines having POSS core were prepared by ring-opening polymerization of 2-methyl-2-oxazoline using various octafunctional POSS as an initiator with changing the feed ratio of POSS to 2-methyl-2-oxazoline. The core-first method, which uses an active multifunctional core to initiate growth of polymer chains, was applicable to make hybrid POSS-core star-shaped polyoxazolines. The kinetic rate of the polymerization and the structures of hybrid star-shaped polyoxazolines were characterized by gas chromatography (GC) and H-1 NMR, respectively. Their thermal properties were investigated in detail by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).