Preparation and characterization of a type of ladder-like poly(phenyl silsesquioxane) based hybrid star-shaped copolymer of ε-caprolactone

Combination of the organic–inorganic hybrid such as silsesquioxane with ε-caprolactone will lead to materials expected to be environmentally friendly and applicable to biomedical usages. A ladder-like poly(phenyl silsesquioxane) based hybrid star-shaped copolymer of ε-caprolactone was prepared by ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone catalyzed by Sn(Oct) 2 with hydroxyl terminated ladder-like poly(phenyl silsesquioxane) as initiator. The copolymers were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H-NMR), silicon nuclear magnetic resonance ( 29 Si-NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in detail. Furthermore, the enzymatic degradation property of the copolymers was also investigated. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132 , 42335.