Jessica N. Hoskins

Cyclic polyesters: synthetic approaches and potential applications

The synthetic strategies that have been developed for the preparation of cyclic polyesters are reviewed. While linear and branched polyesters are used extensively for biomedical and materials applications, the synthetic difficulty of preparing cyclic polyesters has limited their exploration. Recently synthetic methodologies have been developed which compliment previous techniques, and promise to increase the availability of cyclic polyesters for future studies. The relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach are discussed, as well as some of the unique physical properties demonstrated by cyclic polymers.

The identification of synthetic homopolymer end groups and verification of their transformations using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

Recent advances in the resolving power of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) enable the detailed characterization of linear homopolymers, and in particular provide invaluable data for the determination of their end-group functionalities. With the growing importance of macromolecular coupling reactions in building complex polymer architectures, the ability to accurately monitor end-group transformations is becoming increasingly important for synthetic polymer chemists. This tutorial demonstrates the application of MALDI-TOF MS in determining both end-group functionalities and their transformations for linear homopolymers. Examples of both polycaprolactone and polystyrene are examined, and the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to data analysis are given.