Synthesis and characterization of metal-mercaptoacetate hybrids and its application towards ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone: a comparative study

The Mn2+ and Mo6+ based metal-mercaptoacetate (metal-MA) hybrids were prepared by a simple acid–base titration method. metal-MA analysed FT-IR spectroscopy, UV–visible SEM, particle size analyser (PSA), XRD EDX. investigated to assess their catalytic activity for ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (CL) in the absence an initiator at 160 °C N2 atmosphere varying catalyst concentration temperature. hybrid towards ROP CL was evidenced FTIR-RI % yield, degradation temperature (Td), melting (Tm) molecular weight (Mw) poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) also investigated. structure PCL comprehended analysing its NMR spectrum. activation energy (Ea) determined as 10,363 kcal/mol. A linear increase Mw with increasing [M0/I0] ratio noticed.