Solvent effects on the polymerization of multi-armed vinyl biphenyl derivatives containing pendant oligo(oxyethylene)cyclotriphosphazenes

Polymerization of vinyl biphenyl derivatives containing a pendant oligo(oxyethylene)cyclotriphosphazene (VBMEP, ? (OCH₂CH₂)nOCH₃, n = 1; VBDEP, n = 2; VBTEP, n = 3) was carried out in various solvents. The conversions of these monomers increased with increasing β values, solvent hydrogen bond acceptor abilities, indicating that the hydrogen bond formation is the most important factor in the polymerization. ¹³CNMR study showed that the reactivity of the monomer is influenced by the hydrogen bond interaction. In ethanol, the kinetic orders of monomer and initiator concentrations for the polymerization of VBDEP were different from those in 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), which suggest the predominant occurrence of primary radical termination. The intrinsic viscosity of poly(VBDEP) with M?_n = 22 000 in DCE was two times higher than that in ethanol, and plots of intrinsic viscosity versus conversion of VBDEP gave a straight line. The results suggest that the polymer chains in ethanol are in a coiled conformation, whereas in DCE they are in a relatively extended structure, and that the propagation is affected by the conformational change. These behaviors originated from the hydrogen bond formation between polymers and solvents are discussed. The copolymerization of styrene with multiarmed monomers and the properties of polycascade polymers obtained are also described. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.