Carbon cationic polymerization

Coumarone—indene or coal-tar resins, as the name denotes, are by-products of the coal carbonization process (coking). Although named after two particular components of these resins, coumarone (1) and indene (2), these resins are actually produced by the cationic polymerization of predominantly aromatic feedstreams. These feedstreams are typically composed of compounds such as indene, styrene, and their alkylated analogues. In actuaUty, there is very tittle coumarone in this type of feedstock. The fractions used for resin synthesis typically boil in the range of 150—250°C and are characterized by gas chromatography. 

An interesting aspect of the benzofuran cationic polymerization was uncovered by Natta, Farina, Peraldo and Bressan who reported in 196160,61 that an asymmetric synthesis of an optically active poly(benzofuran) could be achieved by using AlCl2Et coupled with (-)j3-phenylalanine, (+)camphorsulphonic acid or with (-)brucine. The optical activity was definitely due to the asymmetric carbon atoms in the polymer chain, indicating that at least some of the polymer s macromolecules possessed a di-isotactic structure, v/ z.62 ... 

A comparison of the cationic polymerization of 2,3-dihydrofurans with that of furan and 2-alkylfurans shows that the complications of the latters two, arising from the dienic character of the monomers, obviously vanish when the monomer is a simple cyclic vinyl ether with just one reactive site, viz. the carbon-carbon double bond. However, it also points out that ring opening in the polymerization of furans by acidic catalysts in the absence of water is unlikely, because otherwise it would also occur to some degree in the polymerization of dihydrofurans. 

Analogous principles should apply to ionically propagated polymerizations. The terminus of the growing chain, whether cation or anion, can be expected to exhibit preferential addition to one or the other carbon of the vinyl group. Poly isobutylene, normally prepared by cationic polymerization, possesses the head-to-tail structure, as already mentioned. Polystyrenes prepared by cationic or anionic polymerization are not noticeably different from free-radical-poly-merized products of the same molecular weights, which fact indicates a similar chain structure irrespective of the method of synthesis. In the polymerization of 1,3-dienes, however, the structure and arrangement of the units depends markedly on the chain-propagating mechanism (see Sec. 2b). 

Cationic polymerization of alkenes and alkene derivatives has been carried out frequently in aqueous media.107 On the other hand, the reaction of simple olefins with aldehydes in the presence of an acid catalyst is referred to as the Prins reaction.108 The reaction can be carried out by using an aqueous solution of the aldehyde, often resulting in a mixture of carbon-carbon bond formation products.109 Recently, Li and co-workers reported a direct formation of tetrahydropyranol derivatives in water using a cerium-salt catalyzed cyclization in aqueous ionic liquids (Eq. 3.24).110... 

On the other hand, in cyclic ethers (alkene oxides, oxetans, tetrahydrofuran) and formals the reaction site is a carbon-oxygen bond, the oxygen atom is the most basic point, and, hence, cationic polymerization is possible. The same considerations apply to the polymerization of lactones Cherdron, Ohse and Korte showed that with very pure monomers polyesters of high molecular weight could be obtained with various cationic catalysts and syncatalysts, and proposed a very reasonable mechanism involving acyl fission of the ring [89]. 

Carbon-13 NMR Studies on the Cationic Polymerization of Cyclic Ethers... 

The same type of addition—as shown by X-ray analysis—occurs in the cationic polymerization of alkenyl ethers R—CH=CH—OR and of 8-chlorovinyl ethers (395). However, NMR analysis showed the presence of some configurational disorder (396). The stereochemistry of acrylate polymerization, determined by the use of deuterated monomers, was found to be strongly dependent on the reaction environment and, in particular, on the solvation of the growing-chain-catalyst system at both the a and jS carbon atoms (390, 397-399). Non-solvated contact ion pairs such as those existing in the presence of lithium catalysts in toluene at low temperature, are responsible for the formation of threo isotactic sequences from cis monomers and, therefore, involve a trans addition in contrast, solvent separated ion pairs (fluorenyllithium in THF) give rise to a predominantly syndiotactic polymer. Finally, in mixed ether-hydrocarbon solvents where there are probably peripherally solvated ion pairs, a predominantly isotactic polymer with nonconstant stereochemistry in the jS position is obtained. It seems evident fiom this complexity of situations that the micro-tacticity of anionic poly(methyl methacrylate) cannot be interpreted by a simple Bernoulli distribution, as has already been discussed in Sect. III-A. 

Shibasiki Y, Sanada H, Yokoi M, Sanda F, Endo T (2000) Activated monomer cationic polymerization of lactones and the application to well-defined block copolymer synthesis with seven-membered cyclic carbonate. Macromolecules 33 4316-4320... 

CATIONIC POLYMERIZATION OF THE CARBON-CARBON DOUBLE BOND... 

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