A simple and efficient route for one-pot synthesis of high-molecular-weight aliphatic polycarbonates (APCs) by direct melt transesterification of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) with aliphatic diols at equimolar amounts was developed. Zn(OAc)2 was found to be the best catalyst for this reaction among the screened transition metal acetates. The effects of reaction conditions on Mw and yield of the poly(1,4-butylene carbonate) (PBC) were investigated, where the highest Mw of 156 200 g mol−1 with a yield of 83% was obtained under suitable reaction conditions. In addition, based on the results of thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), a plausible reaction mechanism over Zn(OAc)2 was proposed for APC synthesis.
