Model Poly(dimethylsiloxane-b-ƒÕ-caprolactone) Obtained by Anionic Ring Opening Polymerization

A.J. SATTI; F.G. NADOR; E.M. VALLÉS; M.A. VILLAR; A.E. CIOLINO

Granada

Congreso; European Polymer Congress (EPF 2011); 2011

European Polymer Federation

Poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) is a biodegradable polyester which can be used as drug carrier because of its excellent drug permeability. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is a biocompatible hydrophobic polymer with good properties as surface modifier. This combination makes PDMS-based copolymers excellent candidates for several biomedical applications. Thus, many synthetic strategies have been developed in order to synthesize block copolymers of siloxane/e-caprolactone for specific applications. In this work, we report the synthesis of these block copolymers under different reaction conditions by using anionic polymerization. We explored the use of PDMS macroinitiators to promote the anionic ring opening polymerization (AROP) of e-caprolactone (e-CL). PDMS-b-PCL copolymers with different monomer compositions were obtained by AROP of the ε-caprolactone ring using PDMS macroinitiators, sequential addition of monomers, and anionic polymerization (high-vacuum techniques). The reaction is temperature-dependant: at 50 ºC, the ε-CL incorporation in the resulting copolymer is close to the theoretical amounts expected by stoichiometry; at 40 ºC, there is lower ε-caprolactone incorporation; and at room temperature no incorporation is detected.