A Zn-MOF-Catalyzed Terpolymerization of Propylene Oxide, CO2, and β-butyrolactone

The terpolymerization of propylene oxide (PO), CO2, and a lactone is one of the prominent sustainable procedures for synthesizing thermoplastic materials at an industrial scale. Herein, the one-pot terpolymerization of PO, CO2, and β-butyrolactone (BBL) was achieved for the first time using a heterogeneous nano-sized catalyst: zinc glutarate (ZnGA-20). The reactivity of both PO and BBL increased with the CO2 pressure, and the polyester content of the terpolymer poly (carbonate-co-ester) could be tuned by controlling the infeed ratio of PO to BBL. When the polyester content increased, the thermal stability of the polymers increased, whereas the glass transition temperature (Tg) decreased.