The nitration of polystyrene

Abstract

Four methods for the nitration of polystyrene are compared: (i) direct nitration with a nitric acid/sulfuric acid mixture; (ii) nitration in carbon tetrachloride with acetyl nitrate; (iii) nitration in N, N′-dimethylformamide with a nitric acid/sulfuric acid mixture; and (iv) nitration in 3-nitrotoluene with a nitric acid/sulfuric acid mixture. It is demonstrated that the first three methods give products with low degrees of substitution and lead to a broadening of the molecular weight distribution, but that method (iv) gives poly(4-nitrostyrene) with minimal effect on the breadth of the molecular weight distribution. The glass transition temperature for poly(4-nitrostyrene) is found to approach 194.6°C at high molecular weights.