Abstract
Cationic polymerization of p-methylstyrene (pMeSt) was examined using various metal chlorides as Lewis acid catalysts in dichloromethane. All of the catalysts used produced poly(pMeSt)s in the presence of 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridine (DTBP). However, the polymerization behavior differed depending on the type of metal chloride. The polymerization reactions conducted using SnCl4 and ZnCl2 proceeded in a controlled manner and yielded well-defined polymers, whereas metal trichlorides (for example, AlCl3, FeCl3 and GaCl3) induced uncontrolled polymerization. In addition, the combination of SnCl4 and DTBP allowed the controlled polymerization of styrene (St) and p-chlorostyrene (pClSt). Moreover, this initiating system was efficient for the synthesis of star-shaped poly(pMeSt)s via the arm-first method through the addition of an alkylstyrene-type divinyl compound used as a cross-linking agent.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 22107006) on Innovative Areas of ‘Fusion Materials’ (No. 2206) from MEXT and by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (Nos. 24350059 and 26288063) and for Young Scientists (A) (No. 26708014) from JSPS.
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Saitoh, R., Kanazawa, A., Kanaoka, S. et al. Cationic polymerization of p-methylstyrene using various metal chlorides: design rationale of initiating systems for controlled polymerization of styrenes. Polym J 48, 933–940 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/pj.2016.43
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pj.2016.43
