Chih-Hwa Lin, J. Xiang, K. Matyjaszewski
May 1, 1993
Citations
0
Influential Citations
29
Citations
Journal
Macromolecules
Abstract
The effect of tetrabutylammonium chloride on the kinetics and the molecular weight distribution in the cationic polymerisation of styrene initiated by 1-phenylethyl chloride/SnCL was investigated. This «living» system resembles classic cationic systems but proceeds with a lower instantaneous concentration of active carbocations. The carbenium ions form covalent species reversibly. The fraction of unpaired carbocations can be suppressed by addition of salts with common anions. When molecular weights are low enough, the transfer reactions cannot be easily detected and polymers with low polydispersities are formed. For this system, the upper limit of the molecular weight control is in the range of M n ≃5000at 20 o C