Friedel-crafts copolymerization of thiophene and p-di(chloromethyl)benzene. I. Products,kinetics, and mechanism of the early stages of the reaction

The rate of polymerization of thiophene, at concentrations of catalyst (SnCl₄), and thiophene of the same order as was subsequently used in studying the reaction between thiophene and di(chloromethyl)benzene, is of the order of 10^-2%/hr at 30°C. There is no significant self-condensation of DCMB under the same conditions. Since the reaction between thiophene and DCMB is complete at 30°C in minutes rather than hours, it is assumed that self-condensation of thiophene or DCMB during the reaction between them will be negligible and should not influence the course of the reaction or the structure of the resulting polymer. Reaction at 30°C is much too fast for convenient study. A temperature of 0°C is more appropriate and was used in subsequent kinetic work. The first two products of the condensation of p-di(chloromethyl)benzene (DCMB) with thiophene have been identified by a combination of mass, infrared, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as thenylchloromethylbenzene (TCMB) and dithenylbenzene (DTB). DCMB, TCMB, and DTB have been estimated quantitatively during the course of the reaction by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), and it has been established that the rates of each of the two reaction steps is first-order with respect to the chloro compound (DCMB and TCMB respectively), thiophene, and SnCl₄. Rate constants for these two consecutive reactions were calculated to be k₁ = 2.79 × 10^-4l.²/mole²-sec, k₂ = 6.37 × 10^-3l.²/mole²-sec; the corresponding energies of activation are E₁ = 7.93 kcal/mole, E₂ = 7°67 kcal/mole. These rate constants are appreciably higher than values previously obtained for the corresponding DCMB–benzene reactions.