Synthesis of polycaprolactone by microwave irradiation ? an interesting route to synthesize this polymer via green chemistry

Abstract

Poly(ε-caprolactone) has become an important biocompatible and biodegradable polymer. Indeed, due to its multiple biomedical applications, the synthesis of polycaprolactone has received increased attention in the past few decades. Moreover, microwave irradiation is a very clean modern technique widely used for green chemistry. Here, several polymers were synthesized by microwave irradiation, without any solvent, using nontoxic, biologically acceptable lanthanide halides as initiators. Reaction times varied between 2 and 90 min. The molecular weights of the obtained polymer products were between 3,000 and 16,000 g/mol. After polymerization, the polycaprolactone polymers were functionalized by reaction with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate. Hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation of the synthesized polymers were compared and discussed.

Synthesis and processing of biodegradable and bio-based polymers by microwave irradiation

“…Two different microwave equipments were employed: a monomodal Prolabo Synthwave S402 equipped with an IR temperature sensor (15 to 45 min of irradiation at 180 -200 °C) and a Sairem GMP 12T provided with a Marconi F1192-12 water-cooled circulator (3 to 20 min of irradiation at 230 °C). Interestingly, the degradation rate of PCL was also assessed: it was found that the slow hydrolytic process is accelerated by the catalyst, while the faster enzymatic process is inhibited (Barbier-Baudry et al, 2003). The Sn(Oct) 2 catalyzed microwave assisted polymerization of ε-caprolactone ( -CL) can be initiated by methacrylic acid or acrylic acid yielding radical polymerizable PCL macromonomers.…”

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

“…Loupy et al investigated the effect of microwave irradiation on the polymerization of ε ‐caprolactone with lanthanide halide catalysts using different heat profiles 51. When 200 W microwave power was applied constantly, broader molecular weight distributions were obtained compared to the use of an initial power boost (300 W).…”

Novel Zinc-Catalytic Systems for Ring-Opening Polymerization of ε-Caprolactone

“…Due to its multiple biomedical applications, the synthesis of PCL has received increased attention in the last years [ 9 , 10 ]. There are two methods for the preparation of biomedical PCLs: the polycondensation of 6-hydroxyhexanoic acid and the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (CL) [ 9 , 11 ]. The ROP process is more often used because of the higher molecular weight and lower polydispersity of the obtained polyesters [ 9 ].…”