Anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate using tetrakis[tris(dimethylamino)phosphoranylidenamino] phosphonium (P5+) as counterion in tetrahydrofuran

Abstract

A novel metal-free initiator, i.e. the salt of the tetrakis[tris(dimethylamino)phosphoranylidenamino]phosphonium (P5+) cation with the 1,1-diphenylhexyl (DPH–) anion was prepared by cation metathesis. It initiates a very fast and controlled anionic polymerization of methyl methacrylate in THF. Kinetic investigations between –20 and +20°C using a flow tube reactor provide nearly linear first-order time-conversion plots with half-lives below 0.1 s, a linear dependence of the number-average degree of polymerization, and rather narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn ≈ 1.2). 13C NMR measurements on a model of the active chain end (the P5+ salt of ethyl isobutyrate) in THF-d8 show 15 and 25 ppm upfield shifts of the α-carbon compared to the dimers and tetramers of the lithium ester enolate, respectively, indicating a non-aggregated structure and an increased charge density on the α-carbon.