ABSTRACT:This paper describes the catalyst character of copper (I) tert-butoxide (t-BuOCu) for vinyl polymerization. At the low temperature of 0°C, t-BuOCu initiated the anionic polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) in the presence of a coordinating compound such as tert-butyI isocyanide (t-BuNC), trimethyl phosphite, triphenylphosphine, and hexamethylphosphoric triamide (HMPT). The mechanism of the anionic polymerization was shown by the reaction of AN monomer with t-BuOCu-t-BuNC in the presence of a protic solvent of tert-BuOH and by copolymerization experiments. Without any coordinating compound, t-BuOCu caused the polymerization of styrene (ST), methyl acrylate (MA), methyl methacrylate (MMA), and AN at the higher temperature of 80°C, where a radical mechanism was assumed.KEY WORDS Vinyl Polymerization / t-BuOCu / Ligand / Anionic Mechanism / Organocopper / Acrylonitrile / t-BuNC / Phosphine / HMPT / Copolymerization / In a previous paper,1 vinyl polymerization by the cyclopentadienylcopper (I)-tert-butyl isocyanide complex ((CPD)Cu, t-BuNC) was reported. This complex alone did not induce the polymerization, but became highly effective for the polymerization when excess t-BuNC was added. In this polymerization, the organocopper (I) complex was assumed to be the propagating species. The results of both homopolymerization and copolymerization by (CPD)Cu,(t-BuNC)2 were different from those of the conventional anionic polymerizations by the catalysts of organolithium and organomagnesium. This paper describes the vinyl polymerization by t-BuOCu. t-BuOCu is one of the very few examples of thermally stable copper (I) alkoxides which has been found to be an efficient reagent of metalation ( organocopper formation). 2
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONVinyl Polymerization by t-BuOCu t-BuOCu was prepared from the reaction of tert-BuOLi with CuCl, which was purified by sublimation. 2 At 0°C, t-BuOCu alone did not induce the vinyl polymerization, but AN was polymerized when t-BuNC was added to t-BuOCu. Table I shows the effect of added t-BuNC on the 302 conversion and molecular weight of the product polymer. About an equimolar amount of t-BuNC to t-BuOCu was required to activate t-BuOCu. Larger excess of t-BuNC did not much affect either the conversion or the molecular weight of the product polymer. Under the present experimental conditions, the best conversion was obtained when the ratio of t-BuNC to t-BuOCu was 2. As for the vinyl polymerization by the system of t-BuOCu-t-BuNC, it should be mentioned that an isolated species of t-BuOCu, tBuNC complex, which was prepared from an equimolar mixture of t-BuOCu and t-BuNC, has • t-BuOCu, 0.20 mmol; AN, 76 mmol; toluene, 10.0 ml; polymerization at 0°C for 3 hr.