| Abstract: | Addition reactions of pendant epoxide groups in poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) with various active esters such as 1-benzotriazolyl benzoate, S-(2-benzoxazolyl) thiobenzoate, S-(2-benzothiazolyl) thiobenzoate, 4-nitrophenyl benzoate (4NPB), and S-phenyl thiobenzoate (PTB) were carried out using quaternary salts as catalysts. The reactions of PGMA with those active esters proceeded in diglyme at 100°C for 24 h quantitatively without the formation of 2-hydroxyl pendant groups in the polymer when 10 mol % of tetraethylammonium bromide was used as a catalyst. Furthermore, it was found that the respective quaternary salts have higher catalytic activity than tertiary amines in the reaction of PGMA with the active esters, and the reaction of PGMA with 4NPB gave the corresponding polymer with the highest conversion by addition of tetrabutylammonium bromide as a catalyst, while tetraethylammonium chloride showed the highest activity for the reaction of PGMA with PTB. In addition, the rate of reaction of PGMA with 4NPB was proportional to third order kinetics of the epoxide concentration, the ester concentration and the catalyst concentration as follows: ?dEpoxide]/dt = ?Ester]/dt = k3Epoxide] Ester] Catalyst]. |
