Alkali metal carboxylates, which are readily available and widely used as food additives, were found to promote the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of trimethylene carbonate (TMC) to produce poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC). The sodium acetate-catalyzed ROP of TMC proceeded in the presence of an alcohol initiator under solvent-free conditions, even at very low catalyst loadings of 0.01–0.0001 mol%. This ROP system enabled the synthesis of PTMCs with predicted molecular weights ranging from 2400 to 11 700 g mol−1 and narrow dispersities (~1.23).
- Kaoru Takojima
- Tatsuya Saito
- Toshifumi Satoh
