Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
We found new reactionsof oxetanes with many reagents such as acyl chlorides, silyl chlorides, phosphonyl chlorides, alkyl chlorides, aryl esters, thio esters, phosphonic acids, carboxylic acids, thiols, and phenols using suitable quaternary onium salts or crown ether complexes as catalysts. More recently, we also found an anionic ring-opening polymerization of certain oxetane monomers such as (3-methyl-3-hydroxymethyl)oxetane and (3-ethyl-3-hydroxymethyl)oxetane, which have hydroxyl groups, catalyzed by potassium tert-butoxide and 18-crown-6-ether complex, and an anionic ring-opening alternating co-polymerization of oxetane monomers with cyclic carboxylic anhydrides. These reaction systems have also been applied to the synthesis of new functional polymers. In this article, we would like to introduce the application of these reaction systems for the synthesis of high performance new photo-curable polymers and oligomers containing pendant or terminal (meth)acryloyl groups.