• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.267-276
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• 2020

Poly(epichlorohydrin) copolyol series (PECH copolyols) were synthesized via cationic ring-opening copolymerization (ROCP) of oxirane-based monomers and effects of reaction temperature, solvent type, and initiator were studied. As a comonomer, two types of alkylene oxides were used, and polymerization conditions were conducted both with diethylene glycol (DEG) as an initiator in methylene chloride (MC) solvent and tripropylene glycol (TPG) in toluene solvent. In order to induce the active monomer (AM) mechanism in the ring-opening copolymerization reaction, the monomer was injected by an incremental monomer addition (IMA) method using a syringe pump, and the polymerization was performed at -5 ℃. PECH copolyol, a synthesized ephichorohydrin (ECH)-based copolyol, was converted to glycidyl azide-based energy-containing copolyol (GAP copolyol) by azadizing the ECH unit through a substitution reaction. It was confirmed that the synthesized azide copolyol had little effects on changes of the solvent and the initiator. Also, the molecular weight increased 500 after the azide reaction, thereby the GAP copolyol was polymerized as designed. As the content of the comonomer increased, both the T_g and viscosity tended to decrease due to the influence of the alkyl chain length. It is possible to fundamentally prevent CH₃N₃ amount produced in the azide reaction process, and it is expected that a large-scale process could be achievable.