Polymers with Esters of Phosphoric Acid Units: From Synthesis, Models of Biopolymers to PolymerInorganic Hybrids

Syntheses, some properties, and applications of the poly(alkylene phosphate)s prepared either by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) or by polycondensation are described mostly on the basis of the data from our laboratories. The ROP of some cyclic phosphates and H-phosphonates are living and/or controlled process. Transesterification of the products of the reaction of an excess of dimethylphosphonate with glycols leads to polymers with Mn close to 5×104. Poly(alkylene phosphate)s with five or six atoms in repeating units bear resemblance to the main chains of nucleic and teichoic acids. These and similar poly(alkylene phosphate)s with different repeating units were used as liquid membranes for the efficient separation of cations as well as to modify the medium for CaCO3 crystallization. In this latter process, a diblock copolymer with ionic and nonionic block was used. Poly(alkylene phosphate)s constituted the ionic block and the nonionic block was formed from poly(ethylene glycol); together with CaCO3 polymerinorganic hybrids were formed.