Syntheses of functional condensation polymer. I. Polyesters having pendant functional groups such as hydroxyl,formyl, aldoxime,aminomethyl and hydroxymethyl

Unsaturated polyesters having pendant functional groups such as hydroxyl, formyl, aldoxime, aminomethyl and hydroxymethyl, have been prepared and characterized, and some of their properties were investigated. Reaction conditions for the epoxidation of unsaturated polyesters and hydrolysis of the epoxy groups in the polyesters were established to control the amount of pendant diol groups. It was possible to incorporate up to 90 mole-% of formyl side groups into the unsaturated polyester by the hydroformylation with the rhodium catalyst. In addition, the formyl side groups of the modified polyester were converted into hydroxymethyl or aldoxime groups and were then converted to amino groups. The melting points of the modified polyesters decreased with increasing the pendant group content of the polyesters, as expected. Aliphatic polyesters having pendant hydroxyl or amino groups had a high affinity for moisture, which might be ascribed to the participation of the hydrophilic pendant groups in the modified polyesters.