Ring‐opening polymerization of lipoic acid and characterization of the polymer

Abstract Thermal polymerization of DL ‐α‐lipoic acid (LPA) in bulk without any initiator proceeded easily above the melting point of LPA. The molecular weight polymer determined by GPC was high. From the 1 H NMR spectra of polymers, poly(LPA) obtained from polymerization of high purity LPA was to consist of cyclic structures, which was confirmed by ESI‐MS. Interlocked polymer consisting of poly(LPA) and dibenzo‐30‐crown‐10 entangled with each other was synthesized by the polymerization of LPA in the presence of dibenzo‐30‐crown‐10. From the DSC analysis of the polymers, glass transition temperature was estimated to be about −11 °C, but melting point was not observed, indicating that poly(LPA) is an amorphous polymer. By photodecomposition of poly(LPA), M n was rapidly decreased at the early stage of the decomposition. After that, the M n of the polymer kept and then was almost constant even for a prolonged reaction time. On the basis of the results, it would be presumed that poly (LPA) obtained form polymerization of high purity LPA includes an interlocked structure. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010