ABSTRACT:A four-armed star-shaped poly(tetrahydrofuran) (THF) having a pentaerythritol unit at the center of the molecule was synthesized from photoinduced cationic copolymerization of THF and pentaeryithritol tetrakis(3,4-epoxybutanoate) (PETE) in the presence of diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate. It was found that the molecular weight of the resulting polymer increases with increasing percent conversion and the rate of cationic polymerization of THF is remarkably increased by the addition of PETE when the concentration of PETE is kept much lower than that of THF. A similar enhancement effect was also observed in the photoinduced cationic polymerization of THF in the presence of epichlorohydrin (ECH). The enhancement effect of ECH and PETE was ascribed to the increased concentration of the cationic propagating species due to a rapid protonation process. The living nature was explained in terms of the stabilization of the cationic growing chain end by ion pair formation. Accordingly, the arm length of the polymer was determined by the molar ratio of THF and PETE. However, the polymer of well-defined structure was only obtainable in the early stage of the reaction because chain transfer to the polymer process plays an important role when the concentration of the polymer becomes high.