| Abstract: | The copolymerization of tetraoxane with styrene catalyzed by BF3·O(C2H5)2 was studied at 30°C. to determine whether a cyclic monomer can copolymerize with a vinyl monomer. The formation of the copolymer was confirmed by elementary analysis of both benzene-soluble and benzene-insoluble fractions of the polymer obtained. It was found by gas chromatography that a fairly large amount of 4-phenyl-1,3-dioxane and a small amount of trioxane were formed in the present system, in addition to polymers. Roughly a third of the total amount of the monomers reacted was consumed in the formation of methanol-insoluble polymer, a third for 4-phenyl-1,3-dioxane, and another third for trioxane and unknown products which could not be indentified. The formation of these cyclic compounds during the copolymerization may be explained in terms of a back-biting (or intramolecular transacetalization) reaction. The cationic reactivity of tetraoxane was found to be similar to that of styrene on the basis of both the consumption rate of each monomer in the copolymerizing system and the composition of the methanol-insoluble polymer obtained. |
