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tate was filtered out and dried under vacuum to yield a
white powder.
1
Yield: 69%. H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl , d): 1.23–1.26 (20H,
3
m, ACH A), 1.60 (4H, m, ACH ACH ACOA, J 5 7.2), 2.28
2
2
2
(
4H, t, ACH ACOA, J 5 7.6), 3.64 (6H, s, CH OA).
2
3
SCHEME 2 Reaction scheme for the formation of oligomer
Network Formation
EDP3.
The cationically crosslinked networks were prepared in all
cases from a mixture containing 25 mg of each oligomer, 4%
(
w/w) of the photoinitiator (Uvacure 1600), and 100 mg of
mixture had reached that temperature, the enzyme was
added to the flask (10% of the total amount of monomers),
and the reaction was allowed to proceed at open atmosphere
for 2 h and afterward under vacuum overnight (Scheme 2).
chloroform. For the photo real-time infrared (photo-RTIR)
measurements, the networks were formed in situ on the sur-
face of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) crystal of the
FTIR after evaporation of the solvent and continuous expo-
2
sure to the UV light with an intensity of 10 mW/cm for a
The reaction was stopped by filtering out the enzyme, and
the product was characterized and used without further
purification (yield: 65%).
period of 1 h. The rest of the films were prepared by solvent
casting of the mixture on a glass substrate with the aid of a
pipette. After evaporation of the solvent, the mixtures were
covered with a quartz microscope slide to obtain homogene-
ously cured films. Free-standing films were obtained after 15
min of exposure to UV light with an intensity of 20 mW/cm
(
the results obtained after the real-time FTIR (RT-FTIR)
studies.
Synthesis of a,x-Oxetane End-Capped Aliphatic Polyester
DP3 (ODP3)
2
To prepare the aliphatic homologous of the polyester with
DP3, end capped with oxetane, hexadecanedioic acid was
chosen as monomer. Because of the nonsolubility of this
monomer in any suitable solvent for the enzymatic polymer-
ization, the equivalent methyl ester was prepared prior to
polymer formation (Scheme 3).
2
dose: 18 J/cm ). The time of exposure was selected from
Analytical Methods
1
H NMR
The spectra were recorded at 400 MHz on a Bruker AM 400
Dimethyl hexadecanedioate, ethylene glycol, TMPO, and
molecular sieves of 4 Å (25 wt % of the total amount of
monomers) were put into a round-bottomed flask in a 3:2:2
ratio and heated up to 85 8C. After the reaction mixture had
reached that temperature, the enzyme was added to the flask
using deuterated chloroform (CDCl ) as solvent. The solvent
3
signal was used as reference.
MALDI-TOF MS
MALDI-TOF MS spectrum acquisitions were conducted on a
Bruker UltraFlex MALDI-TOF MS with SCOUT-MTP Ion
(
10% of the total amount of monomers), and the reaction
was allowed to proceed at open atmosphere for 2 h and
afterward under vacuum overnight. The reaction was
stopped by filtering out the enzyme. The product was puri-
fied by column chromatography using silica as stationary
phase and a gradient of eluents, starting with a mixture of
ethyl acetate:heptane 30:70 and increasing to 100% ethyl
acetate (yield: 11%).
Source (Bruker Daltonics, Bremen) equipped with a N
2
laser
(
337 nm), a gridless ion source, and reflector design. All
spectra were acquired using a reflector-positive method with
an acceleration voltage of 25 kV and a reflector voltage of
26.3 kV. The detector mass range was set to 200–2500 m/z.
A THF solution of 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid was used as
matrix. The obtained spectra were analyzed with FlexAnaly-
sis Bruker Daltonics, Bremen, version 2.
Synthesis of Dimethyl Hexadecanedioate
Size Exclusion Chromatography
SEC using DMF (0.2 mL/min) with 0.01 M LiBr as the mobile
phase was performed at 50 8C using a TOSOH EcoSEC HLC-
Hexadecanedioic acid (3.5 mmol, 1 equiv) was suspended in
methanol (20 mL). Afterward, HCl (2.2 equiv) was added
dropwise at room temperature. After 4 h, the formed precipi-
8320GPC system equipped with an EcoSEC RI detector and
three columns (PSS PFG 5 lm; microguard, 100 Å, and 300
Å; MW resolving range: 100–300,000 g/mol) from PSS
GmbH. A calibration method was created using narrow linear
polystyrene standards. Corrections for the flow rate fluctua-
tions were made using toluene as an internal standard.
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
FTIR analysis was carried out using a Perkin-Elmer Spec-
trum 2000 FTIR instrument (Norwalk, CT) equipped with a
single reflection (ATR) accessory unit (Golden Gate) from
Graseby Specac LTD (Kent, England) and a TGS detector
SCHEME 3 Reaction scheme for the formation of oligomer
ODP3.
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