MM3 molecular mechanics calculations reveal that
poly(3,3‘-diethyloxetane) (PDEO) differs
sharply from poly(3,3‘-dimethyloxetane) (PDMO) and
poly(trimethylene oxide) (POM3) in terms
of
conformational preferences, notwithstanding the similarity of these
three polymers as successive members
of the homologous series
[OCH2CR2CH2]
n
where R = CH2CH3, CH3, and
H, respectively. Within the
four-bond repeat unit
OCH2CR2CH2,
POM3 and PDMO both prefer ttgg while PDEO prefers tttt.
These
conformational differences are reflected in the predicted values of the
characteristic ratio CR =
〈r
2〉0/nl
2
for the unperturbed chain dimensions (after allowance for the
oxygen
gauche effect) obtained from
rotational-isomeric-state (RIS) calculations: 3.9 for
POM3, 4.7 for PDMO, and 23 for PDEO. These
CR
values for POM3 and PDMO are consistent with experiment
(3.9 and 4.3, respectively) and with previous
theoretical treatments. The larger R substituent of PDEO compared
with PDMO and POM3 imposes
steric demands that offset the otherwise strong preference of the C−C
backbone bonds for gauche states.
This reversal in preference from gauche to
trans causes the abrupt increase in CR since now the
almost
exclusively all-trans backbone of PDEO lacks the distinctive
conformational randomness of POM3 and
PDMO. In terms of E
σ =
E
t − E
g for the focal
C−C bond in these polymers, comparison of the MM2,
MM3, and Discover (plus a variant Discover‘)
force fields reveals a wide disparity of values for
E
σ and
more so for the constituent energy components
E
stretch, E
bend,
E
torsion, E
vdW, and
E
electrostatics. The
preference
of the focal C−C bond in PDEO for trans over
gauche involves a surprising degree of interplay
among
these energy components; hence the conformational analysis of PDEO
would represent a stringent test
of any existing or prospective force field.