Isobutene polymerization induced by adducts of B(C 6F 5) 3 with carboxylic acids CH 3(CH 2) nCO 2H ( n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20); chain length effects on this strong acid, carbocationic polymerization initiating system

Abstract

Adducts of B(C 6F 5) 3 with the series of long chain carboxylic acids CH 3(CH 2) n CO 2H ( n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20) are assessed for their abilities to initiate the carbocationic polymerization of isobutene. It is found that the adducts behave in MeCl/CH 2Cl 2 as strong acids with very weakly coordinating counteranions, inducing the rapid formation in high conversions of ultrahigh molecular weight polyisobutene ( M w ∼ 2 × 10 6 g/mol, M w/ M n ∼ 1.5) at −50 °C.