Diphenylmethyl methacrylate polymerized

Electron-withdrawing substituents in anionic polymerizations enhance electron density at the double bonds or stabilize the carbanions by resonance. Anionic copolymerizations in many respects behave similarly to the cationic ones. For some comonomer pairs steric effects give rise to a tendency to altemate. The reactivities of the monomers in copolymerizations and the compositions of the resultant copolymers are subject to solvent polarity and to the effects of the counterions. The two, just as in cationic polymerizations, cannot be considered independently from each other. This, again, is due to the tightness of the ion pairs and to the amount of solvation. Furthermore, only monomers that possess similar polarity can be copolymerized by an anionic mechanism. Thus, for instance, styrene derivatives copolymerize with each other. Styrene, however, is unable to add to a methyl methacrylate anion, though it copolymerizes with butadiene and isoprene. In copolymerizations initiated by w-butyllithium in toluene and in tetrahydrofuran at-78 °C, the following order of reactivity with methyl methacrylate anions was observed. In toluene the order is diphenylmethyl methacrylate > benzyl methacrylate > methyl methacrylate > ethyl methacrylate > a-methylbenzyl methacrylate > isopropyl methacrylate > t-butyl methacrylate > trityl methacrylate > a,a -dimethyl-benzyl methacrylate. In tetrahydrofuran the order changes to trityl methacrylate > benzyl methacrylate > methyl methacrylate > diphenylmethyl methacrylate > ethyl methacrylate > a-methylbenzyl methacrylate > isopropyl methacrylate > a,a -dimethylbenzyl methacrylate > t-butyl methacrylate. 

Stable carbon-centered radicals, in particular, substituted diphenylmethyl and triphenylmethyl radicals, couple reversibly with propagating radicals (Scheme 9.11). With, the carbon-centered radical-mediated polymerization systems described to dale, the propagating radical should be tertiary (e.g. methacrylate ester) to give reasonable rates of activation. 

Diphenylmethyl Carbanions The carbanions based on diphenylmethane (p/fj, = 32) [2] are useful initiators for vinyl and heterocyclic monomers, especially alkyl methacrylates at low temperatures [78]. 1,1-Diphenylalkyllithiums can also efficiently initiate the polymerization of styrene and diene monomers that form less stable carbanions. Diphenylmethyllithium can be prepared by the metallation reaction of diphenylmethane with butyllithium or by the addition of butyllithium to DPE as shown in Equation 7.13. This reaction can also be utilized to prepare functionalized initiators by reacting butyllithium with a substituted DPE derivative [78]. Addition of lithium salts such as lithium chloride, lithium tert-butoxide, or lithium 2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxide with... 

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