Abstract:
Application of traditional polycarbonates is forbidden in some fields due to the fact that bisphenol A (BPA) is not UV-resistant and it is usually regarded as an exogenous estrogen. As a result, the development of alternative polycarbonates has attracted wide attention. Here hydrogenated bisphenol A (HBPA) polycarbonate was successfully synthesized by melt polycondensation between HBPA and diphenyl carbonate (DPC). The influences of factors, such as the types and concentrations of catalysts, monomer ratio, transesterification time and temperature on the molecular weight, molecular structure, thermal properties and appearance of the products were investigated. The results show that, as a secondary alcohol bearing weak alkalinity, HBPA is difficult to dissociate into nucleophile, which leads to a lower reactivity compared with BPA. An alkaline catalyst with strong coordination ability, such as LiCl, exhibits high catalytic activity. With the addition of the catalyst of 0.01% (molar fraction), the molar ratio of DPC to HBPA at 1.01∶1, transesterification reaction time for 2.0 h, and the polycondensation temperature at 250 ℃, the number average molecular weight of the synthesized HBPA polycarbonate is 1.12×10
4 with
Tg of 160 ℃, showing good color property.