Synthesis of PEO-based materials for biomedical applications

Abstract

We have successfully carried out living anionic ring-opening polymerization of ethylene oxide in the mixture of benzene/dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) using authentic n-butyllithium with potassium tert-butoxide as the initiating system. The resulting poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) used for biomedical applications could be readily modified by chain-end functionalizations. It was possible to control the molecular weight of PEO as well as to achieve quantitative chain-end functionalizations of PEO.