Synthesis of eight-shaped poly(ethylene oxide) by the combination of Glaser coupling with ring-opening polymerization.

The eight-shaped poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) is synthesized by a combination of Glaser coupling with ring-opening polymerization (ROP). Firstly, the star-shaped (PEO-OH)(4) is synthesized by ROP of ethylene oxide (EO) using pentaerythritol as an initiator and diphenylmethyl potassium (DPMK) as a deprotonated agent, and then the alkyne group is introduced onto the PEO arm-end to give (PEO-Alkyne)(4) in a NaH/tetrahydrofuran (THF) system. The intramolecular cyclization is carried out by a Glaser coupling reaction in a pyridine/CuBr/N,N,N',N",N"-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) system at room temperature in an air atmosphere, and eight-shaped PEO was formed with high efficiency (almost 100%). The target polymers and intermediates were well characterized by SEC, MALDI-TOF MS, (1)H NMR and FT-IR in detail.