Microwave‐Assisted Polymer Synthesis: Recent Developments in a Rapidly Expanding Field of Research

Abstract

The use of microwave irradiation has become a common heat source in organic chemistry. Inspired by this enormous success, the use of microwave irradiation is also increasingly studied for polymerization reactions. The present review discusses developments in this rapidly growing field of research. The main areas in which the use of microwave irradiation has been explored in the recent years are step‐growth polymerizations, ring‐opening polymerizations as well as radical polymerizations. These different areas will be addressed in detail, whereby special attention will be given to observed improvements resulting from the use of microwave irradiation as well as the occurrence of non‐thermal effects.

Preparation of Methacrylate End-Functionalized Poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) Macromonomers

“…The use of microwave irradiation provides the possibility of fast heating and accurate temperature control, even in cases where the reaction mixture is heated above the boiling point of the solvent [12][13][14][15].…”

Microwave assisted lipase catalyzed solvent-free poly-ε-caprolactone synthesis

“…Apart from traditional organic chemistry applications, MW has been used in biological sciences for the synthesis of peptides, oligopeptides, carbohydrates, and in the field of proteomics (3,4). Comprehensive reviews cover the use of MW in organic chemistry (5) and more recently in polymer chemistry (6).…”

Microwave-assisted low-temperature dehydration polycondensation of dicarboxylic acids and diols

“…29 The fact that there is an exponentially increasing number of publications dealing with microwave-assisted chain polymerizations, for example, anionic polymerization of acrylamides, 30 ring-opening cationic polymerization of 2-oxazolines 31 and ringopening polymerization of e-caprolactones, 32 indicates the remarkable interest in this technique. 33,34 In addition to chain polymerizations, microwave-assisted step-growth polymerizations have been successfully attempted in a domestic microwave oven. 33,34 For example, Scherf et al 35 synthesized donor-acceptor pi-conjugated polymers using microwave irradiation at 150 1C for 15 min.…”

“…33,34 In addition to chain polymerizations, microwave-assisted step-growth polymerizations have been successfully attempted in a domestic microwave oven. 33,34 For example, Scherf et al 35 synthesized donor-acceptor pi-conjugated polymers using microwave irradiation at 150 1C for 15 min. Nagahata and colleagues 36 obtained poly(butylene succinate) that had a weight-average molecular weight (M w ) of 2.90Â10 4 in the incredibly short time of 10 min using microwave irradiation.…”

“…However, because of the high temperatures that they used (200-260 1C), it is difficult to assess the importance of a non-thermal effect on their polycondensation reactions. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no report concerning a non-thermal effect in microwave-assisted polycondensation reactions, 33,34 although there has been a report that non-thermal microwaves have a role in the chain polymerization of a lactone. 32 Therefore, we studied microwave-assisted syntheses of polyesters at a relatively low temperature (80 1C) using a microwave chamber equipped with a temperature control, and the results are reported herein.…”