In the new scheme, a guanidine catalyst is used for ring-opening polymerization instead of an organolithium compound. In this method, water can be used, making operations simple.
Depending on the ratio of cyclic trisiloxane and water, the average molecular weight of the polysiloxane can be controlled, up to an average molecular weight of at least 100,000. By adding chlorosilane at the end of the polymerization reaction, polysiloxanes having various reactive structures can be synthesized at both ends.These variations of controlled molecular weight and end structures are expected to lead to novel high performance silicone materials, e. g., with higher heat resistance or viscosity.

NEDO news release, February 20, 2018