Combination of the organic–inorganic hybrid such as silsesquioxane with ε-caprolactone will lead to materials expected to be environmentally friendly and applicable to biomedical usages. A ladder-like poly(phenyl silsesquioxane) based hybrid star-shaped copolymer of ε-caprolactone was prepared by ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone catalyzed by Sn(Oct)₂ with hydroxyl terminated ladder-like poly(phenyl silsesquioxane) as initiator. The copolymers were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), silicon nuclear magnetic resonance (²⁹Si-NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in detail. Furthermore, the enzymatic degradation property of the copolymers was also investigated. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42335.

Rare earth solid super acids SO₄²⁻/TiO₂/Ln³⁺ have been successfully developed to synthesize vinyl end-capped polydimethylsiloxane by ring opening polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) end-capped with 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-1,3-divinyldisiloxane. The features of ring opening polymerization reactions have been investigated in detail. The preferable conditions for the ring opening polymerization of D4 are as follows: [Nd³⁺] = 0.07 mol L⁻¹ and [SO₄²⁻] = 1.85 mol L⁻¹ in the immersing solution; the amount of SO₄²⁻/TiO₂/Nd³⁺ calcined at 500 °C was 5 wt% of the amount of D4; polymerization at 80 °C for 1 h. The average molecular weights of the products obtained using various rare earth catalysts were in order Nd > La > Sm > Gd, which shows that the light rare earths were more favorable for higher molecular weight products than the heavy ones. According to the polymerization features, a cationic equilibrium reaction mechanism is proposed. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

A novel high refractive index and highly transparent silicone resin-type material for the packaging of high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is introduced, which was synthesized by hydrosilylation of vinyl end-capped methylphenyl silicone resin and methylphenyl hydrosilicone oil catalyzed by Karstedt's catalyst. The vinyl end-capped methylphenyl silicone resins were prepared by hydrolysis−polycondensation method from methylphenyl diethoxysilane (MePhSi(OEt)₂), phenyl triethoxysilane (PhSi(OEt)₃), and vinyl dimethylethoxy silane (Me₂ViSiOEt) in toluene/water mixture catalyzed by cation-exchange resin. The vinyl end-capped methylphenyl silicone resins were characterized by ¹H-NMR and Fourier-transform infrared. The performances of the cured silicone resin-type materials for LED packaging have been examined in detail. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013

Traditional catalysts such as (CH₃)₄NOH, NaOH, KOH, n-BuLi and CF₃SO₃H can catalyze the copolymerization of trifluoropropyltrimethylcyclotrisiloxane with cyclotetrasiloxane to afford fluorine-containing polysiloxanes. However, use of these catalysts poses significant difficulties in handling and separation. In this work, fluorine-containing polysiloxanes were synthesized through a novel and environmentally friendly method: ring-opening copolymerization of trifluoropropyltrimethylcyclotrisiloxane with cyclotetrasiloxane catalyzed by rare earth solid superacid SO/TiO₂/Ln³⁺. The effects of reaction conditions were examined in detail. The yield sequence of various rare earth catalysts is Nd ∼ La ∼ Y ∼ Sm > Gd, while the number-average molecular weight sequence is Nd > La > Y > Sm > Gd. The optimum conditions for the ring-opening copolymerization of trifluoropropyltrimethylcyclotrisiloxane with cyclotetrasiloxane are as follows: [Nd³⁺] = 0.05 mol L⁻¹ and mol L⁻¹ in the immersing solution, SO/TiO₂/Nd³⁺ calcined at 500 °C and the copolymerization conducted at 80 °C for 40 min. Structures of resulting copolymers were characterized using size exclusion chromatography, ¹H NMR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis and contact angle measurements. According to the copolymerization features, a cationic equilibrium reaction mechanism is proposed. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry