Effects of mercaptides on anionic polymerization. III. Polymerization of methyl methacrylate by thiophenoxides in polar aprotic solvents

Sodium thiophenoxide initiated the polymerization of methyl methacrylate in polar aprotic solvents (DMF, DMSO, HMPA). The active species that initiated the polymerization of the monomer was found by spectrophotometric measurements and by the sodium fusion method to be sodium thiophenoxide itself. The activation energy for the polymerization of the monomer in DMF solvent obtained was E = 3.4 kcal/mole below 30°C, and E = ?3.3 kcal/mole above the temperature. The phenomena were reasoned as the result of the formation of two active species: a solvent-separated ion pair and a contact ion pair. The effects of counterions on the reactivity of thiophenoxide increased with increasing electropositivity of the metals: Li < Na < K. Sodium phenoxide, the oxygen analog of thiophenoxide, was also found to initiate the polymerization of the monomer in the solvents. The relative reactivity of thiophenoxide to phenoxide for the monomer in HMPA at 30°C was thus determined: phenyl-SNa > phenyl-ONa. The relative effect of the polar aprotic solvents on the reactivity of thiophenoxide was also as follows: HMPA > DMF > DMSO. The kinetic studies were made by the graphical evaluation of rate constants. The following results were obtained for the monomer at 20°C in DMF solvent: K_p = 3.5 × 10² 1./mole-hr and K_t = 9.8 × 10^?2/hr.