Preparation and properties of dimethyl phosphonomethyl methylsiloxane dimethylsiloxane copolymers

Dimethyl phosphonomethylheptamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (II) and 1, 3-bis(dimethyl phosphonomethyl)tetramethyldisiloxane (III) have been prepared by Arbuzov reaction of trimethyl phosphite with bromomethylheptamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (I) and 1, 3-bis(bromomethyl)tetramethyldisiloxane, respectively. Dimethyl phosphonomethylmethylsiloxane dimethylsiloxane copolymers have been prepared by acid-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of II with hexamethyldisiloxane (MM) as an end-capping reagent and by reaction of II with III as an end-capping reagent. Dimethylsiloxane polymers with dimethyl phosphonomethyldimethylsiloxy end groups have been prepared by acid-catalyzed polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D₄) and III. Under these conditions hydrolysis of the dimethyl phosphonate ester groups was a problem. On the other hand Arbuzov reaction of trimethyl phosphite with bromomethylmethylsiloxane dimethylsiloxane copolymer gave a dimethyl phosphonomethylmethylsiloxane dimethylsiloxane copolymer with uniform properties. These polymers have been characterized by ¹H-, ¹³C-, ²⁹Si-, and ³¹P-NMR spectroscopy. Their molecular weight distributions have been determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and their thermal stability measured by TGA.