Process and activated carbon catalyst for ring-opening polymerization of lactone compounds
AssigneeDaicel Chemical Industries, Ltd.
InventorsToshio Endo, Hidetoshi Omori
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Abstract
A lactone compound represented by following General Formula (1), such as ε-caprolactone, is reacted in the presence of a powdered activated carbon where necessary with an initiator such as a polyhydric alcohol, an aliphatic alcohol, or an aliphatic carboxylic acid to thereby yield, for example, a polylactone, a polylactone alkyl ether, or a polylactone alkyl ester. [Chemical Formula 1] Wherein R1 is an alkylene group having two to eighteen carbon atoms which may be substituted with one or more alkyl groups each having one to ten carbon atoms. Accordingly, a target compound can be produced in a high yield with high quality, from which the catalyst can be easily removed.
Claims13
A process for producing a ring-opening polymerization product selected from the group consisting of a polylactone, a polylactone aliphatic alkyl ester and a polylactone aliphatic carboxylic acid ester, by ring-opening polymerization that proceeds through ring opening of at least one lactone compound (a) as a monomer, the process comprising the step of carrying out a reaction of the lactone compound (a) using an activated carbon as a catalyst and using an active hydrogen-containing compound (b) as an initiator, the active hydrogen-containing compound (b) selected from the group consisting of water, diols, ether diols, trifunctional or higher polyhydroxy compounds, monohydroxy compounds, and monocarboxy or polycarboxy compounds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.