Sequence design in terpolymerization of ε-caprolactone, CO2 and cyclohexane oxide: Random ester-carbonate distributions lead to large-span tunability

It is of great interest to make a degradable material widely tailorable to replace petroleum-derived products among diverse applications. Here, we report the construction of a new multi-purpose degradable material for the first time via a simple ternary copolymerization system comprising ε-caprolactone (ε-CL), cyclohexane oxide (CHO) and CO2. Under low pressure of 1 bar ∼5 bar, the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-CL and ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of CO2 and CHO can simultaneously proceed. The carbonate units are randomly distributed on the polymer chain. These random terpolymers have controllable molar mass (10–106 kDa) and compositions (4–33 mol% CO2). And the obtained materials show large-span tunability from tough plastic to elastomer and even adhesive. A multifunctional aliphatic polyester was designed via a simple one-pot and one-step random copolymerization comprising ε-CL, CO2 and cyclohexane oxide. The properties of these copolymers exhibited large-span tunability from tough plastics to adhesives. [Display omitted]