Facile preparation of amphiphilic oxyethylene–oxypropylene block copolymers by selective triazine coupling

A novel synthetic route for preparing high molecular weight poly(oxyalkylene) block copolymers has been developed by using 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine (cyanuric chloride, cc) as the coupling core. The coupling reaction involves the selective substitutions of oligo(oxyalkylene)-amines onto three chlorides of the triazine ring in a stepwise manner at 0, 25 and 130 °C. By judiciously selecting the starting amines and reaction conditions, one can tailor the copolymer structures with different block configurations (tri-block, multi-block, random and alternating block). The prepared copolymers can have a high molecular weight, up to 25,600 g/mol (GPC polydispersity=1.48), and also high thermal stability due to the presence of triazine functionalities. The copolymers with hydrophilic and hydrophobic oligo(oxyalkylene) blocks are of versatile properties in solubility (water soluble or water insoluble) and morphology (crystalline or amorphous). With a specific structure of alternating oligo(oxyethylene)/oligo(oxypropylene) blocks (2000 g/mol each block), the copolymer exhibits the property of self-association. It reduces the interfacial tension of toluene/water as low as 0.5 dyne/cm at the critical micelle concentration of 0.01 wt%.