Copolymerization of 3,3,3-trifluoro-1,2-epoxypropane with N-phenylmaleimide using organozinc initiators

Novel copolymers consisting of 3,3,3-trifluoro-1,2-epoxypropane (TFEP) and N-phenylmaleimide (PMI) units were prepared by the copolymerization of TFEP with PMI initiated with an organozinc compound. Using [Zn(OCH₃)₂ · (C₂H₅ZnOCH₃)₄] as an initiator, the copolymer chains consisted mainly of TFEP-TFEP sequences. The TFEP-PMI sequence content in the copolymer chains was small. On the other hand, using (C₂H₅ZnOCH₃)₄ as an initiator, only low molecular weight copolymers were formed. Those copolymers were suggested to have block structure, poly(TFEP)-block-poly(PMI), by the ¹⁹F NMR analysis. The copolymers showed higher thermostability than poly-(TFEP).