An Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Two Kinds of Silicone Resins Containing Ladder Segments by Chemical Modification with Trimethylborate

Alexei V Kalinin; Vjacheslav V Zuev

doi:10.3390/ma16083072

An Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Two Kinds of Silicone Resins Containing Ladder Segments by Chemical Modification with Trimethylborate

Materials (Basel). 2023 Apr 13;16(8):3072. doi: 10.3390/ma16083072.

Authors

Alexei V Kalinin¹, Vjacheslav V Zuev^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ S.V. Lebedev State Institute of Synthetic Rubber, 1, Gapsalskaya St. 1, 198035 Saint Petersburg, Russia.
² Chemical Engineering Centrum, ITMO University, Kronverkskiy Pr. 49, 197101 Saint Petersburg, Russia.
³ Institute of Macromolecular Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoi Pr. 31, 199004 Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Abstract

We suggest a new method for postsynthesis modification of silicones containing silanol groups. It was found that trimethylborate is an effective catalyst for dehydrative condensation of silanol groups with the formation of ladder-like blocks. The utility of this approach was demonstrated on postsynthesis modification of poly-(block poly(dimethylsiloxane)-block ladder-like poly(phenylsiloxane)) and poly-(block poly((3,3',3″-trifluoropropyl-methyl)siloxane)-block ladder-like poly(phenylsiloxane) with a combination of linear and ladder-like blocks having silanol groups. The postsynthesis modification leads to a 75% increase in tensile strength and 116% elongation on break in comparison with the starting polymer.

Keywords: coating; nanostructure; postsynthesis modification; silicone.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.