Stereospecific Polymerization of Trityl, Diphenylmethyl and Benzyl Methacrylates

Abstract

Polymerizations of trityl (TMA), diphenylmethyl (DMA) and benzyl (BMA) methacrylates were carried out mainly by n-butyllithium (n-BuLi) and the tacticities of the polymers were studied by NMR spectroscopy. Polymerization of TMA by n-BuLi gave a highly isotactic polymer in toluene as well as in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The polymer obtained in radical polymerization by AIBN catalyst had about 60% isotacticity in triads. From these results the growing-chain-controlled mechanism was proposed to this polymerization. In the polymerization of DMA by n-BuLi a highly isotactic polymer was obtained in toluene at lower temperatures and a highly syndiotactic one in THF. The radical polymerization gave a predominantly syndiotactic polymer. Temperature dependence of the NMR signal-width of the isotactic polymer indicates that the conformational arrangement of the polymer chain in solution is much rigid up to a fairly higher temperature. These results suggest that the growing-chain-controlled mechanism may contribute to some extent to the stereoregulation of DMA in toluene. BMA behaved very similarly to methyl methacrylate in the polymerization by n-BuLi. Probably the same polymerization mechanisms can be applied for both monomers. Polymerization of TMA, DMA and BMA by phenylmagnesium bromide or diethylaluminum diphenylamide was also investigated.