ABSTRACT
The multi-staged the oligomer synthesis, the larger the number of sources of the functionally defective molecules (FDMs). The qualitative analysis of relations between the reaction mechanism and the concentration of different types of defects, the study of the kinetics of FDM accumulation and consumption have become powerful new sources of information on the mechanism of oligomer formation processes. The use of cationic polymerization processes to produce polyethers with terminal hydroxyl groups, based on a series of substituted alpha-oxides, e.g., glycidol nitrate, fluoro-, chloro- and nitro-substituted epoxides, as well as tetrahydrofuran and its co-polymers with alkylene oxides, is associated with the impossibility of polymerizing these monomers by other mechanisms. The hydrolysis or methanolysis of polytetrahydrofuran diacetate results in polytetramethylene glycol, widely used in the chemistry of polyurethanes. The presence of acetic anhydride in the system leads to reinitiation, and by varying its quantity one can control the degree of oligomerization.
