Electrochemically Controlled Switchable Copolymerization of Lactide, Carbon Dioxide, and Epoxides

Electrochemical redox-control is an emerging strategy for the regulation of polymerization process without the addition of external oxidants and reductants, which enables the control over composition, microstructure and properties of the polymer products. In this paper, based on the chemical selectivity of heterometallic Salen-Co-Mn complexes of different valences, an electrochemically switchable strategy was developed for the copolymerization of lactide (LA), CO2 and epoxides. The switchable redox reactions endowed this system with the capability to easily synthesize a multi-block copolymer of polylactide (PLA) and polycarbonate (PC). Moreover, the multi-block copolymer could be further modified by introducing various monomers with different microstructures and functional groups.