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The ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of lactide with DBU (1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0] undec-7-ene) is described. Room temperature polymerization using the neutral amine catalyst DBU in the absence of any other initiator produces polymers with narrow polydispersities and shows a linear relationship between molecular weight and conversion. The resulting polymers were characterized and determined to be cyclic. DFT calculations support a mechanistic hypothesis involving a zwitterionic acyl amidinium intermediate.
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Brown et al. (2012) studied this question.
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