Preparation of a new hydrophilic copolymer from a polylactone and the structure analyses

A new hydrophilic copolymer having three kinds of hydroxyl groups, i.e. primary OH on a-hydroxy allyl alcohol component, secondary OH on cyclic hemiacetal component and tertiary OH on a-hydroxy acrylate component, was prepared by reducing a ‘polylactone’, poly(1- oxa-2-oxobutane-1,4:3,3-tetrayl), with NaBH4 in mixed solvents containing an alcohol. The structural analyses were performed by the solution 1H NMR and the solid state 13C NMR spectroscopies of the reduced samples. The composition of the three components turned out to be variable to the alcohol species used for the mixed solvent. q 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.