The urgent demand for more sustainable materials has
led to significant
research in the field of CO2-based polymers. This work
describes monomer synthesis, polymerization, and polymer properties
of long chain terpenoid- and CO2-based polycarbonates.
Utilizing (R,R)-(salcy)-Co(III)Cl (Co(Salen)Cl) and
bis(triphenylphosphine)iminium chloride ([PPN]Cl) as a binary catalytic
system, high molar mass polymers (up to 46.4 kg mol–1) were achieved with narrow dispersities (M
w/M
n < 1.13) via solvent-free
bulk polymerization. Crucially, synthesis of these high molar mass
polycarbonates necessitates a reactor design featuring low reactor/gas
volumes, as well as CO2 with very low content of water,
a requirement that is independent of the specific monomer employed.
For this reason, an extensive evaluation of reactor/gas volume and
predrying of CO2 was conducted to achieve narrow molar
mass distributions. A glass transition temperature range between −43
and −29 °C was achieved by employing both saturated and
unsaturated terpenoids. When combining various terpenoid-based monomers,
an ideally random terpolymerization was observed, confirmed by offline 1H NMR kinetics. The resulting copolymers characterized by
double bonds in their polymer side chains are addressable for further
postmodification reactions. Owing to their good thermal stability
and low T
g values, the absence of cross-linking
reactions and high molar masses, these flexible long chain terpenoid-based
polycarbonates emerge as highly promising candidates for use as soft
segments in thermoplastic elastomers.