Anionic Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate with the Aid of Lithium Trimethylsilanolate (Me3SiOLi) - Superior Control of Isotacticity and Molecular Weight

✍ Scribed by Takehiro Kitaura; Tatsuki Kitayama

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 139 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1336
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.200700259

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Highly isotactic‐specific polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was developed by using a combined anionic initiator comprising α‐lithioisobutyrate (Li‐__i__PrIB) and a large excess of lithium trimethylsilanolate (Me~3~SiOLi), which afford, in particular, isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with isotactic triad content of up to 99.5% under the adjusted polymerization conditions. The polymerization system also exhibited a high activity such that isotactic PMMA with $\overline M _{\rm n}$ of over 800 000 and narrow molecular weight distribution ($\overline M _{\rm w} /\overline M _{\rm n}$ < 1.2) was obtained.

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