TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, H. R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Scheliga, F. T1 - About formation of cycles in Sn(II) octanoate-catalyzed polymerizations of lactides T2 - Journal of Polymer Science A: Polymer Chemistry N2 - At first, formation of cycles in commercial poly(Llactide)s is discussed and compared with benzyl alcoholinitiated polymerizations performed in this work. This comparison was extended to polymerizations initiated with 4-cyanophenol and pentafluorothiophenol which yielded cyclic polylactides via end-biting. The initiator/catalyst ratio and the acidity of the initiator were found to be decisive for the extent of cyclization. Further polymerizations of L-lactide were performed with various diphenols as initiators/co-catalysts. With most diphenols, cyclic polylactides were the main reaction products. Yet, only catechols yielded even-numbered cycles as main reaction products, a result which proves that their combination with SnOct2 catalyzed a ring-expansion polymerization (REP). The influence of temperature, time, co-catalyst, and catalyst concentrations was studied. Four different transesterification reactions yielding cycles were identified. For the cyclic poly(L-lactide)s weight average molecular weights (Mw’s) up to 120,000 were obtained, but 1H NMR end group analyses indicated that the extent of cyclization was slightly below 100%. The influence of various parameters like structure of Initiator and catalyst and temperature on the formation of cyclic poly(Llactide)s has been investigated. Depending on the chosen conditions, the course of the polymerization can be varied from a process yielding exclusively linear polylactides to mainly cyclic polylactides. Three different reaction pathways for cyclization reactions have been identified. PB - Wiley Periodicals Inc. KW - Cyclization KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polyester KW - Ring-opening polymerization KW - Transesterification PY - 2018 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46052 AN - OPUS4-46052 SN - 0887-624X VL - 56 IS - 17 SP - 1915 EP - 1925 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany