Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol.38, No.3, 444-452, 2000
Novel substituted epoxide initiators for the carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene
This article presents the first detailed account of the discovery that substituted epoxides can initiate the carbocationic polymerization of isobutylene. alpha-Methyl-styrene epoxide (MSE), 2,4,4-trimethyl-pentyl-epoxide-1,2 (TMPO-1), 2, 4,4-trimethyl-pentyl-epoxide-2,3 (TMPO-2), and hexaepoxi squalene (HES) initiated isobutylene polymerization in conjunction with TiCl4. MSE, TMPO-2, and HES initiated living polymerizations. A competitive reaction mechanism is proposed for the initiation and propagation. According to the proposed mechanism, initiator efficiency is defined by the competition between the S(N)1 and S(N)2 reaction paths. A controlled initiation with external epoxides such as MSE should yield a primary hydroxyl head group and a tert-chloride end-group. The presence of tert-chloride end-groups was verified by NMR spectroscopy, whereas the presence of primary hydroxyl groups was implied by model experiments. Multiple initiation by HES was verified by diphenyl ethylene end-capping and NMR analysis; the resulting star polymer had an average of 5.2 arms per molecule. A detailed investigation of the reaction mechanism and the characterization of the polymers are in progress.
Keywords:living carbocationic polymerization;isobutylene;substituted epoxides;functionalized polyisobutylene;tert-chloride end-group;primary hydroxyl head group;star-branched polyisobutylene