Copolymerization of trioxane with phenylglycidylether

This study deals with the regularities and peculiarities of the copolymerization of trioxane (TO) and phenylglycidylether (PhGE) in nitrobenzene catalyzed by the cationic initiator BF₃Et₂O. The additions of PhGE were varied in wide bounds from 5 up to 50 mol %. No data were found about the course of copolymerization process, as well as about the influence of the polymerization conditions on the rate of exhaustion of the monomers and the composition of the copolymer. The effect of the polymerization conditions on the rate of exhaustion of comonomers was established. The kinetics of the process has been followed; the following equation is proposed: The activation energy was determined to be E_α = 15.3 kcal/mol. The course of copolymerization of TO/PhGE was compared with those of TO/DO, TO/EO, TO/St, and TO/ECH. The variation of comonomer concentrations was measured by gas chromatographic methods. The copolymers were characterized by elemental analysis, IR-, and NMR-spectroscopy, as well as by their molecular weights (M _v).