Preparation of hetero-armed POSS-cored star-shaped PCL-PLA/PLA composites and effect of different diisocyanates as compatibilizer.

Eight-armed AB-type hetero-arm star-shaped PCL-PLA polymers ((PCL)-POSS-(PLA), SPLA30) with POSS core were successfully prepared via combination of the "arm-first" approach utilizing ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and click chemistry techniques. Firstly, alkyne-functional PLA and PCL polymers having arms with 30 repeating units were synthesized via ROP with utilizing propargyl alcohol as initiator and stannous octoate (Sn(Oct)) as catalyst. Then, the obtained hetero-armed star-shaped polymers were prepared by Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) click reaction between alkyne functional polymers (1:1 PCL:PLA) and azido functional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquoxane (POSS-(N)) molecules.