The developing urea class of H-bond donors facilitates the solvent-free ROP of lactones at ambient and elevated temperatures, displaying enhanced rates and control versus other known organocatalysts for ROP under solvent-free conditions. The ROPs retain the characteristics of living polymerizations despite solidifying prior to full conversion, and copolymers can be accessed in a variety of architectures. One-pot block copolymerizations of lactide and valerolactone, which had previously been inaccessible in solution phase organocatalytic ROP, can be achieved under these reaction conditions, and one-pot triblock copolymers are also synthesized. For the ROP of lactide, however, thioureas remain the more effective H-bond donating class. For all (thio)­urea catalysts under solvent-free conditions and in solution, the more active catalysts are generally more controlled. A rationale for these observations is proposed. The triclocarban (TCC) plus base systems are particularly attractive in the context of solvent-free ROP due to their commercial availability which could facilitate the adoption of these catalysts.

The ring-opening polymerization (ROP) kinetics of ε-caprolactone and lactide with various H-bonding organocatalysts, (thio)ureas paired with an amine cocatalyst, were evaluated at temperatures up to 110 °C. In nonpolar solvent, most cocatalyst systems exhibit decomposition at high temperatures, while only two, a monourea and bis-urea Hbond donor plus base cocatalyst, are stable up to 110 °C. The onset temperature of cocatalyst decomposition must be measured under reaction conditions. In polar solvent, when the more active imidate form of the (thio)urea is favored, most cocatalyst systems become thermally stable up to 110 °C, exhibiting linear Eyring behavior, including some that were unstable in toluene. The very progress of an ROP is shown to influence the nature of the catalysts as the solution polarity changes from highly polar (at 0% conversion) to less polar at full conversion. Activation parameters are discussed, and a mechanistic explanation of the observations is proposed.