Free radical copolymerization in the presence of lewis acids. II. Alternating copolymerization of styrene with butyl acrylate in the presence of SnCl4

✍ Scribed by Yumin Yuan; Hong Song; Guojin Xu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 387 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0959-8103
• DOI: 10.1002/pi.4990310414

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The mechanism of alternating copolymerization of butyl acrylate (BA) with styrene (St) in the presence of SnCl~4~, photo‐initiated by Mn~2~(CO)~10~‐CCl~4~, has been investigated. The results show that the rate of copolymerization is proportional to [BA‐SnCl~4~] [St]^0^, which is in agreement with the cross‐propagation mechanism. The apparent rate constant, which can be conveniently obtained by measuring the rate of polymerization as a function of [SnCl~4~], is found to be 3.25 × 10^−1^. Alternating copolymers are obtained over a wide range of reactant composition. The solvent effect shows that the reaction in tetrachloro‐ethylene (TCE) is more advantageous to alternation than is that in toluene (TOL). ^13^C‐NMR spectrum confirms that the copolymers obtained have strict alternating structure.