| Abstract: | Copolymerization of styrene (St) and isoprene (IP) with nickel(II) acetylacetonate [Ni(acac)2] and methylalumoxane (MAO) catalyst was investigated. It was found that the Ni(acac)2-MAO catalyst is effective for the copolymerization of St and IP. From the copolymerization of St (M1) and IP (M2) and IP (M2) with the Ni(acac)2-methylalumoxane catalyst, the monomer-reactivity ratios were determined to be r1 = 1,18 and r2 = 0,88, i.e., ideal copolymerization was found to proceed to give perfectly random copolymers without formation of any homopolymer. The microstructure of IP units in the copolymers exhibits high cis-1,4 contents. |
