Cationic polymerization of 3-azidomethyl-3-methyloxetane in the presence of the boron fluoride etherate—ethylene glycol system

The kinetics of oligomerization of 3-azidomethyl-3-methyloxetane in the presence of the boron fluoride etherate—ethylene glycol initiating system is studied by gel-permeation chromatography and IR spectroscopy methods. It is found that the molecular-mass distribution of the resulting oligooxetanediol depends on the concentration of ethylene glycol, while its molecular mass remains practically unchanged throughout the reaction. In other words, ethylene glycol serves as a chain-transfer agent. The relative chaintransfer constant is 0.5. The schemes of polymerization reactions are proposed.