The use of ionic liquids as an organocatalyst for controlled ring-opening polymerization of ϵ-caprolactone
Résumé
The controlled ring-opening polymerization of ϵ‑caprolactone in bulk catalyzed by ionic liquids, thus, avoiding the use of metal catalyst, solvent and base, is reported. These mild conditions led to living polymerization with good conversions and molecular weight distributions of poly(ϵ‑caprolactone). Finally, an activation mechanism is suggested based on the results of an in-situ FTIR polymerization analysis using various ionic liquid catalysts.