| Abstract: | α-Trimethylsilyloxystyrene (TMSST), the silyl enol ether of acetophenone, was not homopolymerized either by a radical or a cationic initiator. Radical copolymerization of TMSST with styrene (ST) and acrylonitrile (AN) in bulk and the terpolymerization of TMSST, ST, and maleic anhydride (MA) in dioxane were studied at 60°C and the polymerization parameters of TMSST were estimated. The rate of copolymerization decreased with increased amounts of TMSST for both systems. Monomer reactivity ratios were found as follows: r1 = 1.48 and r2 = 0 for the ST (M1)–TMSST (M2) system and r1 = 0.050 and r2 = 0 for the AN (M1)–TMSST (M2) system. The terpolymerization of ST (M1), TMSST (M2), and MA (M3) gave a terpolymer containing ca. 50 mol % of MA units with a varying ratio of TMSST to ST units and the ratio of rate constants of propagation, k32/k31, was found to be 0.39. Q and e values of TMSST were determined using the values shown above to be 0.88 and ?1.13, respectively. Attempted desilylation by an acid catalyst for the copolymer of TMSST with ST afforded polystyrene partially substituted with hydroxyl groups at the α-position. |
