Quasiliving Carbocationic Polymerization. XII. Forced Ideal Copolymerization of lsobutylene with Styrene

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Abstract
Forced ideal carbocationic copolymerization of isobutylene/styrene systems has been achieved by continuous addition of mixed monomer feeds to 2-chloro-2,4,4-trimethylpentane/TiCl4 in n-hexane/methylene chloride charge by keeping the input rate equal to the overall rate of copolymerization. The composition of the copolymers was identical to that of the feeds over the entire monomer concentration range. The number-average molecular weight of the copolymers increased almost linearly with the amount of consumed monomers at higher isobutylene concentrations in the feed. The molecular weight increase was less pronounced at higher styrene concentration because more methylene chloride had to be used in the solvent system to keep the copolymer in solution. The micro-structure of the copolymers is uniform as determined by gel permeation chromatography (UV plus RI) and 13C-NMR spectroscopy According to these studies, true copolymers have formed. The probability of triads in the copolymer has been determined.