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Anionic ring-opening polymerization of a 5-membered cyclic carbonate with a myo-inositol structure

Polymer Journal volume 57, pages 645–652 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Five-membered cyclic carbonate 5 was synthesized from myo-inositol via a four-step reaction. The structures of the obtained single crystals of 5 were investigated via X-ray structural analysis. The results showed that 5 has torsional and angular strains similar to those of previously reported 5-membered carbonates that undergo ring-opening polymerization. However, the anionic homopolymerization of 5 did not produce any polymeric products. On the other hand, the copolymerization of 5 with some lactones yielded polymeric products. Among the lactones used, ε-caprolactone (CL) produced a homogeneous mixture with 5 at a mole fraction of 5 (f5) up to 30 mol%. The copolymerization of the homogeneous mixtures produced copolymers with a mole fraction of 5 (F5) similar to that of f5. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the copolymers was determined by a differential scanning calorimetory (DSC). The copolymer with F5 = 0.14 had a Tg of −26.1 °C, which increased with increasing F5 and reached a value of 0.65 °C at F5 = 0.29.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Organic Materials Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan

    Yuto Oshima, Hiroshi Katagiri & Osamu Haba

  2. Chemistry & Chemical Process Laboratory, Corporate Research & Development, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan

    Tatsuro Toda & Hisanari Yoneda

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  1. Yuto Oshima
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  2. Hiroshi Katagiri
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  3. Osamu Haba
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  5. Hisanari Yoneda
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Correspondence to Osamu Haba.

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Oshima, Y., Katagiri, H., Haba, O. et al. Anionic ring-opening polymerization of a 5-membered cyclic carbonate with a myo-inositol structure. Polym J 57, 645–652 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-025-01021-z

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