Donor-Acceptor Complexes in Copolymerization. LIX. Alternating Diene-Dienophile Copolymers. 13. Copolymerization of Dicyclopentadiene and Maleic Anhydride

The solution and bulk copolymerization of dicyclopentadiene (DCP) and maleic anhydride (MAH) occurs over the temperature range 80–240°C, upon the addition of a free-radical catalyst which has a short half-life at the reaction temperature. An unsaturated 1/1 MAH/DCP copolymer, derived from the copolymerization of MAH with the norbornene double bond, followed by a Wagner-Meerwein rearrangement, is obtained in the presence of a large excess of DCP at 80° C, while a saturated 2/1 MAH/ DCP copolymer, derived from the cyclocopolymerization of the residual cyclopentene unsaturation, is obtained at higher temperatures or in the presence of excess MAH. The copolymers prepared under other conditions with intermediate MAH/DCP mole ratios contain both 1/1 and 2/1 repeating units. The copolymer obtained from bulk copolymerization above 170° C contains units derived from cyclopentadiene-MAH cyclocopolymerization as well as DCP-MAH copolymerization.