Anionic polymerization of 1,3-pentadiene in toluene: homopolymer, alternating and block copolymers

RSC Advances Pub Date: 2016-05-20 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA07508H

Abstract

The anionic polymerization of (E)-1,3-pentadiene (EP) and (Z)-1,3-pentadiene (ZP) was performed in aromatic solvent using n-butyllithium as initiator. In contrast to poly(ZP)s, the resulting poly(EP)s possessed the predicted molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions (? ≤ 1.15). However, THF as polar additive has proved its validity to reduce the molecular weight distribution of poly(ZP) from 1.55 to as low as 1.16. The 1H NMR and 13C NMR results indicated that both poly(EP) and poly(ZP) consist of 1,4-addition & 1,2-addition units, without 3,4-addition units. Moreover, a novel, well-defined styrene–pentadiene alternating copolymer has been synthesized in toluene via living anionic copolymerization and the NMR spectra demonstrated that the resulting copolymers obtained possess a strictly alternating structure and much narrower polydispersity (? ≤ 1.17). Finally, the living nature of the polymerization was also inspected via sequential copolymerization with methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 2-vinylpyridine (2VP) to yield well-controlled diblock copolymers (poly(EP)-b-poly(MMA) & poly(EP)-b-poly(2VP)).

Graphical abstract: Anionic polymerization of 1,3-pentadiene in toluene: homopolymer, alternating and block copolymers
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