Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.36, No.14, 2653-2663, 1998
Anionic copolymerization of [60]fullerene with styrene initiated by sodium naphthalene
The novel C-60-styrene copolymers with different C-60 contents were prepared in sodium naphthalene-initiated anionic polymerization reactions. Like the pure polystyrene, these copolymers exhibited the high solvency in many common organic solvents, even for the copolymer with high C-60 content. In the polymerization process of C-60 with styrene an important side reaction, i.e., reaction of C-60 with sodium naphthalene, would occur simultaneously, whereas crosslinking reaction may be negligible. C-13-NMR results provided an evidence that C-60 was incorporated covalently into the polystyrene backbone. In contrast to pure polystyrene, the TGA spectrum of copolymer containing similar to 13% of C-60 shows two plateaus. The polystyrene chain segment in copolymer decomposed first at 300-400 degrees C. Then the fullerene units reptured from the corresponding polystyrene fragments attached directly to the C-60 cores at 500-638 degrees C. XRD evidence indicates that the degree of order of polymers increases with the fullerene content increased in terms of crystallography. Incorporation of C-60 into polystyrene results in the formation of new crystal gratings or crystallization phases. In addition, it was also found that [60]fullerene and its polyanion salts [C-60(n-)(M+)(n), M = Li, Na] cannot be used to initiate the anionic polymerization of some monomers such as acrylonitrile and styrene, etc.
Keywords:POLYMER-SUBSTITUTED FULLERENES, FREE-RADICAL COPOLYMERIZATION;STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION, VERSATILE METHOD, C-60;POLYSTYRENE, CHEMISTRY, FLAGELLENES, SALTS, C60