Polymerization of coordinated monomers. XV. 13C-NMR study on the alternating copolymers of methyl methacrylate with styrene

By the use of various metal halides methyl methacrylate and styrene were copolymerized to produce equimolar alternating sequences and different cotacticities. The ¹³C-NMR spectra of these copolymers were simple in comparison to those of random copolymers because of the fixed monomer sequence which yielded sharply split triplets for carbonyl, methoxy, and quaternary carbons. The relative intensities in these split peaks varied according to the metal halide used. A comparison of the intensities made it possible to obtain clear-cut and quantitative information on the methyl methacrylate-centered triad cotacticity of the copolymers. The spectral assignment with respect to the methoxy carbon was definitely justified by the combined use of partly relaxed Fourier transform and selective decoupling techniques. The spectrum of aromatic C₁ carbon in styrene units also split into three main peaks. From their relative intensities the splitting was attributed to styrene-centered triad cotacticity. The assignment of this carbon was compared with two other assignments made for random copolymers of methyl methacrylate with styrene; they were contradictory, however. Furthermore, an apparent discrepancy was observed between methyl methacrylate-and styrene-centered tactic triads of these alternating copolymers. The origin of this discrepancy suggests a close relationship with the copolymerization mechanism.     

Colloidal metal dispersions and metal complexes in hydrocarbons

Stable dispersions of colloidal metals in hydrocarbons have been prepared by a novel phase-transfer method. The metals were gold, silver, palladium and ruthenium; the hydrocarbons were n-hexane, cyclohexane and benzene. The phase transfer of colloidal metal particles from an aqueous phase to a hydrocarbon phase was achieved by adding salt to the emulsion of hydrocarbon in the aqueous suspension of metal with sodium oleate. The salts were sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, sodium sulfate, etc. The size distributions of the metal particles in the resulting hydrocarbon suspensions were almost the same as that of the original aqueous suspension. The dispersions of colloidal metals in hydrocarbons were stable for a long period of time without the addition of hydrocarbon-soluble stabilizer. The critical phase-transfer concentrations of various salts were determined. The phase-transfer powers of cations were larger than those of anions. Those of divalent and trivalent cations were exceedingly larger than that of the monovalent cation. The concentration of colloidal metal dispersed in hydrocarbon was achieved by using the phase-transfer method.