The hybrid copolymerization of -caprolactone(CL) and N-phenylmaleirnide with 1-tert-butyl-4

4

4-tris(dimethylamino)-2

2-bis[tris(dimethylamino)-phosphoranylidenamino]-25

45-catenadi(phosphazene) (t-BuP4) as catalyst was presented.The reaction process and the structure of the polymers have been characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(NMR)

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

gel permeation chromatography(GPC) and themogravimetric analysis(TGA).The results show that NPMI incorporated into the copolymers via the breakage of vinyl bonds

and t-BuP4 displays high catalytic activity for the hybrid polymerization of CL with NPMI.The resulted polymers were copolymers but not the mixture of CL and NPMI homopolymers.Studying the effect of polymerization conditions including CL to NPMI ratios and temperatures shows that the molar ratio of CL units in the copolymer increased with the increasing of CL monomers

but that was no more than 38.4%.Increasing the reaction temperature from 0 ℃ to 50 ℃

the composition and the molecular weight of the resulted copolymers have a slight change.TGA measurements demonstrate that such a random copolymer exhibits a decomposition temperature between that of either homopolymer.