Cationic polymerization of ϵ‐caprolactone in the presence of diols via activated monomer mechanism

Abstract

Abstract The kinetics of noncatalytic and catalytic interaction of ϵ‐caprolactone (ϵ‐CL) with a variety of diols in the presence of onium‐type catalysts as well as the resulting products structure were investigated. The phenomenon of the direction change of the lactone ring opening during the interaction with hydroxyl‐containing compounds of different functionality was discovered. The features of the reactions investigated were discussed and their kinetic parameters were determined.