Cationic Polymerizations of Olefins

Kennedy, J. P. and Gillham, J. K. Cationic Polymerization of Olefins with Alkylaluminium Initators. Vol. 10, pp. 1-33. 

Kennedy, J. P. Cationic polymerization of olefins A critical inventory. New York Wiley-Interscience PubL 1975... 

Kennedy JP (1975) Cationic Polymerization of Olefines A Critical Inventury. Wiley, New York... 

V. A. Babkin, G. E. Zaikov, and K. S. Minsker, Quantum Chemical Aspects of Cationic Polymerization of Olefins, Nova Scienece, Commack, 1997. 

The polymerization kinetics of propylene, 3-methyl-l-butene, and 4-methyl-l-pentene can be described by Eq. (12) and it is felt that this scheme may be generally valid for cationic polymerization of olefins as there is no reason to suspect that a fundamental difference in polymerization mechanism exists in the case of the three monomers cited above as compared with other cationically polymerizable olefins. 

The proposed model is similar in general form to those proposed for the cationic polymerization of propylene (16) and 3-methyl-1-butene (4), and in fact, could possibly be extended to all cationic polymerizations of olefins. 

In general, the cationic polymerization of olefins should be considered as a typical example of general carbocationic reactivity in electrophilic reactions, and all other suggested mechanisms can be looked upon as only differing in the nature of the initial electrophiles, always leading to the key trivalent alkyl cation, which then initiates the polymerization reaction [Eq. (5.349)]. 

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