TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, H.R. A1 - Böhme, S. A1 - Schwarz, G. A1 - Krüger, Ralph-Peter A1 - Schulz, Günter T1 - Macrocycles 18. The Role of Cyclization in Syntheses of Poly(ether-sulfone)s JF - Macromolecules N2 - Poly(ether-sulfone)s having an identical backbone were prepared by four different methods. First, silylated bisphenol A (BSBA) was polycondensed with 4,4'-difluorodiphenyl sulfone (DFDPS) and K2CO3 in N-methylpyrrolidone with variation of the temperature. Second, analogous polycondensation were conducted using CsF as catalyst (and no K2CO3). Third, CsF-catalyzed polycondensations BSBA and DFDPS were conducted in bulk up to 290 C. Fourth, free bisphenol was polycondensed with DFDPS or 4,4'-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone and K2CO3 in DMSO with azeotropic removal of water. MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy revealed that the first method mainly yielded cyclic poly(ether-sulfone)s which were detected up to masses around 13 000 Da. These and other results suggest that these polycondensations take a kinetically kontrolled course at tempeatures 145 C. This interpretation is also valid for the fourth method where high yields of cycles were obtained with DFDPS. With the less reactive 4,4'-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone lower conversions, lower molecular weights and lower fractions of cycles were found. In contrast to KF (resulting from K2CO3) CsF cleaves the poly(ether sulfone) backbone at temperatures > 145 C. Smaller amounts of smaller cycles were found in these CsF-catalyzed polycondensations which were in this case the result of thermodynamically controlled "back-biting degradation". PY - 2001 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/ma010218l SN - 0024-9297 SN - 1520-5835 VL - 34 SP - 8886 EP - 8893 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-2176 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -