Synthesis, characterization, and miscibility of caprolactone random copolymers

The ring-opening polymerization and copolymerization of ε-caprolactone, ε-methyl-ε-caprolactone, β,δ-methyl-ε-caprolactone (mixed isomers), and L-lactide using aluminum isopropoxide as initiator were investigated. The chain propagation proceeds through a living anionic type coordinated insertion mechanism. The kinetic features of this process are reported. The experimental monomer reactivity ratios indicate that ε-caprolactone and its methyl derivatives yield random copolyesters. However, the ε-caprolactone/L-lactide pair exhibits a departure from randomness with the preferred incorporation of L-lactide units. The thermal properties of the copolymers were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the crystallization of ε-caprolactone units is limited, in all cases, to copolymers which are rich in this sort of unit. At the same time, the crystallization of L-lactide units was observed in copolymers with high concentrations of this comonomer. Analysis of the melting point depreasion data of the copolymers indicates that the L-lactide units are almost completely rejected from the caprolactone crystals, whereas about 50% of the ε-methyl-ε-caprolactone
and δ,δ-methyl-ε-caprolactone comonomer units are incorporated into the ε-caprolactone crystals due to an obvious structural similarity. Finally, poly(ε-caprolactone-co-ε-methyl-ε-caprolactone) samples are miscible with poly(viny1 chloride) (PVC) whatever the composition of the copolymer and the composition of the blend, whereas poly(εt-caprolactone-co-L-lactide) samples are miscible with PVC uniquely for copolymer L-lactide contents equal to or smaller than 40 wt %. In all cases where miscibility was found, a negative thermodynamic interaction parameter was computed.