Copolymerizations of Ethylene and Vinyl Aromatic Monomers

An overview of the synthesis of ethylene-styrene copolymers has been compiled by Pellecchia and Olivia [12]. A short overview of ethylene-styrene interpolymer technology, including an identification of the most widely investigated catalysts cited in basic patents, has been presented [27]. Whilst the knowledge base continues to grow, the interrelationships of catalyst structure, polymerization conditions such as temperature and the chain microstructures of the resulting polymers will still be subjects of interest. 

Studies of ethylene-vinyl aromatic monomer polymerizations continue to be published. Chung and Lu reported the synthesis of copolymers of ethylene and P-methylstyrene [28] and the same group extended these studies to produce and characterize elastomeric terpolymers which further include propylene and 1-octene as the additional monomers [29,30]. Returning to the subject of alternative molecular architectures for copolymers, Hou et al. [31] has reported the ability of samarium (II) complexes to copolymerize ethylene and styrene into block copolymers. 

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