Poly(N-acylethylenimine) copolymers containing pendant pentamethyldisiloxanyl groups. I. Synthesis

10-(Pentamethyl disiloxanyl) decyl oxazoline ( Si ) was synthesized. It was copolymerized with either undecyl ( U ) or nonyl ( N ) oxazolines using methyl 4-nitrobenzenesulfonate as initiator. Two series of random poly(N-acylethylenimine) copolymers, U/Si and N/Si , were synthesized over the whole composition range of Si monomer with a total degree of polymerization of about 100. Narrow molecular weight distributions were obtained. At a monomer to initator ratio of about 1060, the final degree of polymerization was 374 with a polydispersity index of 1.93. This shows the effect of chain transfer in this system.