Polyether Triols, Tetrahydrofuran-Alkyleneoxides Copolymers for Flexible Polyurethane Foams

Abstract

The study presents a new process for the synthesis of polyether triols, tetrahydrofuran (THF)-alkyleneoxides copolymers for flexible polyurethane foams, by the cationic ring opening copolymerization of THF and propyleneoxide (PO) and/or ethyleneoxide (EO), initiated by glycerol or trimethylolpropane as starters. By using the principles of “activated monomer mechanism", (a new achievement in the cationic polymerization of alkyleneoxides), in the adopted reaction conditions, the equilibrium polymerization of THF and the formation of undesired cyclic oligomers (from alkyleneoxides) are suppressed. Thus, a great variety of copolyether triols having molecular weight 3000-6000 were synthesized (THF-PO, THF-EO, THF-EO-PO, THF-PO-EO etc.). The excellent properties of the flexible polyurethane foams based on these new telechelic intermediates, as compared with classical polyether triols based exclusively on PO and EO, were investigated.