Ring-Opening Polymerization of Lactide with Zn(HMDS)2 Catalyst

As a new catalyst with simple structure, no ligands and low toxicity, bis(trimethylsilyl) amine zinc [Zn(HMDS)(2)] has been used for ring-opening polymerization of lactide, which is of great scientific significance to expand its application in the biological field. In this work, the ring-opening polymerization of lactide L-LA and D-LA catalyzed by Zn(HMDS)(2) was investigated, and the polymerization activity, controllability, crystallization, and the thermal properties of the polymer were discussed. The results showed that the Zn(HMDS)(2)/BnOH catalytic system could achieve highly efficient and controllable ROP of lactide monomer, and the obtained polymers maintain high stereo-regularity with P-m greater than 0.99. The thermal properties of the polymer were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was found that the cold crystallization temperature (T-c), glass transition temperature (T-g) and melting temperature (T-m) changed regularly with the increase of polymerization degree.