Ring-opening polymerization of nitrogen– and phosphorus-containing monomers: Polymerization mechanism and polymer properties

The first part of this paper describes cationic polymerizations of cyclic imino ethers, 2-oxazolines and 5,6-dihydro–4H–1,3–oxazines, which proceed via cyclic onium propagating species or via covalently bonded alkyl halide species. In an extreme case, both ionic and covalent species are present in equilibrium and propagate concurrently. The propagation rate constants due to the respective species were determined. A poly(cyclic imino ether) becomes hydrophilic or lipophilic dependent on the substituent of the monomer. Based on this principle, various types of nonionic polymer surfactants have been prepared, e.g., diblock and triblock copolymers, graft copolymers, and surfactants having one 2-oxazoline chain. The second part is concerned with ring-opening polymerizations of new eight cyclic trivalent phosphorus monomers. These polymerizations produced phosphorus-containing functional polymers such as a chelating resin. ³¹P NMR analyses of polymerization of cyclic phosphinite monomers led to propose a new mechanism of “Electrophilic Ring-Opening Polymerization”.