Abstract: New oxacarbenium perchlorate, C₂H₅C(CH₂OCH₂CH₂CO+ClO₄^-)₃, was synthesized and used in the preparation of poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF) triol. The product structure was determined by 1H NMR and FTIR. GPC curves show that the cyclic oligomers were negligible. Molecular weight and distribution of branch chain were obtained by analyzing the hydrolyzed products of PTHFs. All the results demonstrate that PTHF triol was obtained, both inter- and intra-molecular chain transfer reactions were negligible and molecular weight could be controlled.

Key words: Poly(tetrahydrofuran) triol, Cationic ring-opening polymerization, Multifunctional initiator