Aluminium alkoxides: A family of versatile initiators for the ring‐opening polymerization of lactones and lactides

Aluminium alkoxides, such as Al(OiPr)3 or Et3‐pAl(O (CH2)2X)p with 1≤p≤3, are very effective in initiating the polymerization of lactones, e.g.ϵ ‐ca‐prolactone and δ ‐valerolactone, and lactides (D,L‐ or L,L‐ isomers). The ring‐opening polymerization proceeds through a “coordination‐insertion” mechanism that involves the selective rupture of the acyl‐oxygen bond of the monomer and its insertion into an Al‐O bond of the initiator. Polymerization is typically “living” and allows block copolyesters with perfectly controlled molecular weight and composition to be prepared. Aluminium alkoxides carrying functional alkoxy groups (X = ‐Br, ‐CH2‐NEt2, ‐CH2‐CH=CH2, ‐CH2‐OC(O)‐C(Me)=CH2…) provide asymmetric telechelic polyesters (end‐groups being ‐X and ‐OH, respectively) and very interesting polyester macromonomers. Coupling the asymmetric telechelic chains via the hydroxyl end‐group ‐ or better its A1 alkoxide precursor ‐ is a straightforward way to the symmetric telechelic polymer bearing the X functional group. Copyright © 1991 Hüthig & Wepf Verlag