Design Chemical\nStructures of CO<sub>2</sub>‑Derived\nPoly(cyclohexene carbonate) Copolymers to Mediate Intra-/Intermolecular\nInteractions with Strong Hydrogen-Bonded Donor Homopolymer

The ring opening\ncopolymerization (ROCOP) of CO<sub>2</sub>-based\npoly(carbonate-<i>co</i>-ester) (PC-<i>co</i>-PE)\ncopolymers was synthesized by cyclohexene oxide (CHO), anhydrides\n(AH), and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) with various contents of\nAH. Herein, phthalic anhydride and 1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic anhydride\nwere chosen for prepared poly(cyclohexene carbonate-<i>co</i>-cyclohexane carboxylate) (PCHC-CHA) and poly(cyclohexene carbonate-<i>co</i>-phthalate) (PCHC-PA). Polycarbonate-<i>co</i>-polyester and polyester copolymers possess strong intramolecular\nH-bonding interactions on the polycarbonate (PC) or polyester (PE)\nsegments, which was confirmed by two-dimensional Fourier transform\ninfrared (2D FTIR) spectroscopy analyses. Compared to the PC segment,\nthe OH units of poly(vinylphenol) (PVPh) preferred to form intermolecular\nhydrogen bonding with the polyester segment and possess a higher intermolecular\nassociation equilibrium constant (<i>K</i><sub>A</sub>).\nThe trend of intermolecular H-bonded strength was PVPh/PE-CHA >\nPVPh/PCHC-CHA\n> PVPh/PCHC-PA > PVPh/PCHC binary blends. Adjusting the PC %\nand PE\n% could improve the intra-/intermolecular hydrogen bonding ratio on\nthe PVPh/PC-<i>co</i>-PE binary blend, which could be observed\nin the change of the <i>q</i> value (<i>q</i> value\ngenerally corresponds to the H-bonding strength of the miscible polymer\nblend based on the Kwei equation) from DSC analyses.