Microwave assisted Polymerization
Microwave heating can assist polymerization reactions. (RDC 4/28/2011)
Recent Journal Articles
Fast and efficient synthesis of high molecular weight poly(epsilon-caprolactone) diols by microwave-assisted polymer synthesis
(1321–1329) Journal of Applied Polymer Science 121 #3 (2011)
Gotelli et al, Argentina, used microwave-assisted synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-initiated poly(ε-caprolactone) diols (PCL) by the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone using stannous octanoate as catalyst. Since the PEG content in the synthesized copolymers was extremely low (0.2–1.9%), products were highly hydrophobic and displayed the intrinsic thermal properties of pure PCL. As opposed to the more time-consuming conventional thermally-driven synthesis that usually demands 2–3 h, the microwave technique resulted in intermediate to high molecular weight PEG-PCL derivatives within 10–15 min. (RDC 4/18/2011)
Review Articles
Microwave-Assisted Polymerizations: Recent Status and Future Perspectives
(5825–5842) Macromolecules 44 #15 (2011)
Kempe, Becer and Schubert , Germany and Netherlands, reviews microwave heating is frequently used in the synthesis of polymers owing to the precise temperature and pressure control when using monomodal microwave synthesizer. zThe ever since growing interest in this sort of heating source is expressed by a near-exponential increasing number of publications in this research field every year. This Perspective encompasses the progress of microwave-assisted polymerizations in the past four years with a special focus on controlled and living polymerizations. Furthermore, polymer syntheses under microwave irradiation in ionic liquids as well as the upscaling of microwave-assisted polymerizations are discussed with regard to an energy-saving green process and a potential expansion to industrial applications, respectively. (RDC 8/2/2011)