Molecular mechanics conjugated diene polymerization

To explain the formation of non-crosslinked polymers from the diallyl quaternary ammonium system, Butler and Angelo proposed a chain growth mechanism which involved a series of intra- and inter-molecular propagation steps (15). This type of polymerization was subsequently shown to occur in a wide variety of symmetrical diene systems which cyclize to form five or six-membered ring structures. This mode of propagation of a non-conjugated diene with subsequent ring formation was later called cyclopolymerization. 

These are the most important. The two double bonds mutually activate each other conjugation is essentially not destroyed by addition to the growing chain end. Therefore the conjugated dienes are difunctional monomers. They are polymerized by a relatively simple mechanism. Of all the polymers generated in living tissues, we have so far been able to imitate most closely natural rubber, poIy-cis-l,4-isoprene. Butadiene, isoprene and chloroprene are the dienes most often employed in macro-molecular chemistry. 

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