Polymerization of cyclic esters of phosphoric acid. VI. Poly(alkyl ethylene phosphates). Polymerization of 2-alkoxy-2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxaphospholans and structure of polymers

Five-membered cyclic esters of phosphoric acid of the general formula: ? CH₂CH(R)OP(O)-(OR′)O? polymerize readily to solid, soluble polymers of high molecular weight without any rearrangement known for various tri- and pentavalent organophosphorus monomers. ¹H-, ¹³C-, and ³¹P-NMR spectra of polymers confirmed their linear structure: where R is H, with R′ = CH₃, C₂H₅, n-C₃H₇, i-C₃H₇; n-C₄H₉, CCl₃CH₂, or C₆H₅, or R is CH₂Cl and R′ is C₂H₅. The use of n-C₄H₉Li, (C₅H₅)₂Mg, or (i-C₄H₉)₃Al as initiators leads to polymers with M _n = 10⁴–10⁵.