Styrene derivatives, copolymerization

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. 

Radical copolymerization is used in the manufacturing of random copolymers of acrylamide with vinyl monomers. Anionic copolymers are obtained by copolymerization of acrylamide with acrylic, methacrylic, maleic, fu-maric, styrenesulfonic, 2-acrylamide-2-methylpro-panesulfonic acids and its salts, etc., as well as by hydrolysis and sulfomethylation of polyacrylamide Cationic copolymers are obtained by copolymerization of acrylamide with jV-dialkylaminoalkyl acrylates and methacrylates, l,2-dimethyl-5-vinylpyridinum sulfate, etc. or by postreactions of polyacrylamide (the Mannich reaction and Hofmann degradation). Nonionic copolymers are obtained by copolymerization of acrylamide with acrylates, methacrylates, styrene derivatives, acrylonitrile, etc. Copolymerization methods are the same as the polymerization of acrylamide. 

Various methylene derivatives of spiroorthocarbonates and spiroorthocstcrs have been reported to give double ring-opening polymerization e.g. Scheme 4.36). Like the parent monocyclic systems, these monomers can be sluggish to polymerize and reactivity ratios are such that they do not undergo ready copolymerization with acrylic and styrenic monomers. Copolymerizations with VAc have been reported.170 These monomers, like other acetals, show marked acid sensitivity. 

Applying these methodologies monomers such as isobutylene, vinyl ethers, styrene and styrenic derivatives, oxazolines, N-vinyl carbazole, etc. can be efficiently polymerized leading to well-defined structures. Compared to anionic polymerization cationic polymerization requires less demanding experimental conditions and can be applied at room temperature or higher in many cases, and a wide variety of monomers with pendant functional groups can be used. Despite the recent developments in cationic polymerization the method cannot be used with the same success for the synthesis of well-defined complex copolymeric architectures. 

Kureshy developed a polymer-based chiral Mn-salen complex (Figure 21). Copolymerization of styrene, divinylbenzene, and 4-vinylpyridine generated highly cross-linked (50%) porous beads loaded with pyridine ligands at 3.8 mmol g-1. Once the polymer was charged with the metal complex catalyst, enantioselective epoxidation of styrene derivatives was achieved with ee values in the range 16 46%. 79... 

Postsulfonation of polymers to form PEMs can lead to undesirable side reactions and may be hard to control on a repeatable basis. Synthesis of sulfonated macromolecules for use in PEMs by the direct reaction of sulfonated comonomers has gained attention as a rigorous method of controlling the chemical structure, acid content, and even molecular weight of these materials. While more challenging synthetically than postsulfonation, the control of the chemical nature of the polymer afforded by direct copolymerization of sulfonated monomers and the repeatability of the reactions allows researchers to gain a more systematic understanding of these materials properties. Sulfonated poly(arylene ether)s, sulfonated poly-(imide)s, and sulfonated poly(styrene) derivatives have been the most prevalent of the directly copolymerized materials. 

The resonance stability of the macroradical is an important factor in polymer propagation. Thus, for free radical polymerization, a conjugated monomer such as styrene is at least 30 times as apt to form a resonance-stabilized macroradical as VAc, resulting in a copolymer rich in styrene-derived units when these two are copolymerized. 

Table 2. A summary of copolymerization reactions between ethylene (Mi) and styrene derivatives (M2)...

Chirality induction can be achieved in homo- and copolymerization of vinyl monomers based on chiral monomer structure [1,3,8,9]. The first example of this type of polymerization was the copolymerization of (S)-a-methylbenzyl methacrylate with maleic anhydride the polymerization product showed [a]D +23° after removal of the chiral side group [73]. For another example, the copolymerization of an optically active styrene derivative (39) with N-phenylmaleimide (17, R = -Ph) followed by removal of the optically active side group and deboronation gave an optically active N-phenylmaleimide-styrene copolymer [74]. 

Woodgate et al. [51] applied the C-H/acetylene coupling to the ortho-selective alkenylation of terpene derivatives (Eq. 27). The basic feature of this reaction is the same as the alkenylation reaction of Murai et al. The combination of acetophenone and diynes provides a new entry for the copolymerization of aromatic ketones with acetylenes. Weber et al. [50] studied extensive reactions of ruthenium-catalyzed C-H/acetylene coupling with respect to the step-growth copolymerization of aromatic ketones and acetylenes (Eq. 28). These coupling reactions provide a new route to the preparation of trisubstituted styrene derivatives. 

As seen in Scheme 2 (A), the most of the syntheses have been carried out with the HI/I2 and HX/ZnX2 (X = halogen) initiating systems, because these systems can effectively polymerize a large variety of vinyl ethers, including those with pendant functions, into well-defined living polymers [1]. In this way, the sequential living cationic polymerizations of two vinyl ethers are mostly "reversible i.e., both A - B and B - A polymerization sequences are operable. This is in sharp contrast to the block copolymerization of a vinyl ether with a styrene derivative or isobutylene (see below), where such reversibility often fails to work. 

In block copolymerizations with vinyl ethers, as seen in this example, a styrene derivative should be polymerized after the first-stage polymerization of a vinyl ether component, and an additional dose of a Lewis acid (activator) is usually needed to accelerate the second-phase polymerization. The reverse polymerization sequence (from a styrene derivative to a vinyl ether) often results in a mixture of block copolymers and homo-... 

Considerable efforts have been directed, primarily in Kennedy s group [3], to synthesize a series of block copolymers of isobutene with isoprene [90,91], styrene derivatives [92-104], and vinyl ethers [105-107]. Figure 7 lists the monomers that have been used for the block copolymerizations with isobutene. The reported examples include not only AB- but also ABA- and triarmed block copolymers, depending on the functionality of the initiators (see Chapter 4, Section V.B, Table 3). Obviously, the copolymers with styrene derivatives, particularly ABA versions, are mostly intended to combine the rubbery polyisobutene-centered segments with glassy styrenic side segments in attempts to prepare novel thermoplastic elastomers. These styrene monomers are styrene, p-methylstyrene, p-chlorostyrene, a-methylstyrene, and indene. 

Polymer-supported chiral catalysts have likewise been prepared in order to obtain access to reusable systems (cf. Section 3.1.1, especially Section 3.1.1.3). For example, copolymerized functionalized BINAP [160, 161] could be applied in the enantioselective hydrogenation of olefinic substrates (up to 94 % ee). Similarly, the copolymerization of vinyl-BINAPHOS with styrene derivatives led to a heterogenized auxiliary which made it possible to hydroformylate styrene and vinyl acetate (Rh catalysis) with selectivities and enantioselectivities close to those provided by the parent homogeneous catalytic system [162]. 

Furthermore, we have reported on the first examples of free radical homopolymerization and copolymerization of 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene (3) with styrene (5) and its derivative 4-((V-adamantylamino)-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorostyrene (4) in aqueous solution via the host-guest complexation with Me-p-CD using water-soluble initiators (Fig. 5) [31]. The fluorinated monomers (3 and 4) and styrene (5) were complexed by Me-p-CD in water. The stoichiometries of the host-guest complexes were determined by NMR spectroscopy according to the Job method [32-34], It was clearly shown that styrene (5) forms a defined 1 1 complex while the fluorinated monomers (3 and 4) are encapsulated by two Me-p-CD molecules. In the case of fluorinated monomer (3) this result was not expected since 3 and 5 have the same molecular scaffold and molecular modelling showed that the fluorinated styrene derivative 3 is only slightly bigger than styrene itself (Fig. 6) [35],... 

For styrene-based random copolymers, functional groups can be introduced into the polymer chains via copolymerization with functional styrene derivatives, because the electronic effects of the substituents are small in the metal-catalyzed polymerizations in comparison to the ionic counterparts. Random copolymer R-6 is of this category, synthesized from styrene and />acetoxystyrene.372 It can be transformed into styrene// -vinylphenol copolymers by hydrolysis.380 The benzyl acetate and the benzyl ether groups randomly distributed in R-7 and R-8 were transformed into benzyl bromide, which can initiate the controlled radical polymerizations of styrene in the presence of copper catalysts to give graft copolymers.209 Epoxy groups can be introduced, as in R-9, by the copper-catalyzed copolymerizations without loss of epoxy functions, while the nitroxide-mediated systems suffer from side reactions due to the high-temperature reaction.317... 

A few other methods have been used to prepare polypeptide hybrid copolymers. Inoue polymerized Bn-Glu NCA off of amine-functionalized styrene derivatives, and then copolymerized these end-functionalized polypeptides with either styrene or methyl methacrylate using free radical initiators to yield hybrid comb architecture copolymers [38]. Although unreacted polypeptide was identified and removed by fractionation, copolymers were obtained with polypeptide content that increased with feed ratio. There was no mention if the polypeptide interfered with the radical chemistry. In similar work, Imanishi and coworkers converted the amine-ends of polypeptides to haloacetyl groups that were used to initiate the free radical polymerization of either styrene or methylmethacrylate to yield hybrid block copolymers [39]. Studies using CPC showed that the crude product contained mixtures of copolymers and homopolymers, and so removal of the homopolymers by extraction was necessary. 

Some recent NMR studies on the copolymerization of allyl acetate with methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, and styrene reported their reactivity ratios (cf Table IXb) [65]. The reported error terms, if we assume them to be standard deviations, are quite large with respect to the ri term. Therefore it is problematic whether these numbers are really meaningful. It would seem to us that the large f-2 terms imply that substantially only homopolymers of these three vinyl monomers form. This situation is modified in the case of allyl methacrylate or allyl acrylate copolymers, as will be mentioned below. With these acrylic derivatives, copolymerization depends on the acrylic bonds primarily with modifications due to the allylic hydrogen. Subsequently, the allylic units in a copolymer of allyl methacrylate with butyl methacrylate, for example, will be the sites for crosslinking. 

Grafting via controlled radical polymerization follows the same principle. Copolymerization of styrene with styrene derivatives, containing a nitroxyl group [172] or a halogen group [173] results in a macroinitiator for graft copolymerization via the grafting from method. 

Poly(p-tnercaptostyrene) was prepared by the polymerization of p-vinylphenyl thioacetate 24,25) (III) which was synthesized from p-aminoacetophenone (IV) (Scheme I). Conversitsi of FV via a diazonium salt to xanthate (V), followed by reduction with NaBH4 introduced a thiophenol group (VI). Pyrolysis of the corresponding diacetate produced III in 10% overall yield This styrene derivative polymerized readily and saponification of the resultant homopolymer yielded an alkaU soluble polymer. Copolymerization with methyl methacrylate gave, upon saponification, another synthetic mercaptan-containing copolymer. 

---