New insight into the polymerization mechanism of 1,3-dienes cationic polymerization. IV. Mechanism of unsaturation loss in the polymerization of isoprene†
Victor A. Rozentsvet,Valery G. Kozlov,Nelly A. Sablina,Olesya A. Stotskaya,Frederic Peruch,Sergei V. Kostjuk
Polymer Chemistry Pub Date : 12/21/2016 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C6PY01736C
Abstract

The cationic polymerization of isoprene with the tBuCl/TiCl4 initiating system in the presence of a high excess of tBuCl over TiCl4 ([tBuCl]/[TiCl4] > 100) in CH2Cl2 is reported. It is shown that the polymerization follows first-order kinetics, which indicates that the main chain-breaking process is the chain transfer to the initiator. The number-average functionalities with respect to the tert-butyl head group and chlorine-containing end group are determined to be considerably higher than unity. In addition, unsaturation of the polymer chain is found to be always less than 100%. It is also shown that unsaturation of the polyisoprene chain decreases with a simultaneous increase in polydispersity upon treatment of the polymer using the tBuCl/TiCl4 initiating system. Based on these observations, the mechanism to obtain a polymer with reduced unsaturation is proposed, which includes multiple interactions of growing cations with double bonds of “own” or/and “alien” macromolecules with the formation of branched structures.

Graphical abstract: New insight into the polymerization mechanism of 1,3-dienes cationic polymerization. IV. Mechanism of unsaturation loss in the polymerization of isoprene