Cationic polymerization with boron halides. IV. Elucidation and control of initiation and termination by the help of model experiments

The proposition that BCl₃-coinitiated olefin (isobutylene, styrene) polymerizations terminate by chlorination has been corroborated by model experiments. Key experiments showed that under simulated polymerization conditions neither tert-butyl chloride nor 2-chloro-2,4,4-trimethylpentane reacts with BCl₃; that H₂O/BCl₃ + 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene (TMP) produce 2-chloro-2,4,4-trimethylpentane; and that H₂O/BCl₃ + isobutylene gives rise to tert-butyl chloride. Extended model studies demonstrated that certain alkyl and benzyl chlorides produce carbenium ions in the presence of BCl₃ and that TMP can readily be alkenylated by using 1-substituted allyl chlorides in conjunction with BCl₃. These experiments led to the discovery that olefin polymerizations may be initiated by suitable allyl or benzyl chlorides and BCl₃. Accordingly, polymerizations of isobutylene have been carried out with RCl/BCl₃, where R is allyl or benzyl. These experiments suggest that both controlled initiation and termination, i.e., initiation by alkenylation and termination by chlorination, can be achieved with the allyl chloride/BCl₃ initiator system opening new avenues toward the synthesis of asymmetric telechelic polymers.